


Caged

by foreveragain87



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Anger, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assault, Conflict Resolution, Crimes & Criminals, Developing Relationship, Drama, Emotional Baggage, Eventual Sex, Fluff and Angst, Gay Male Character, Illegal Activities, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Internal Conflict, Lies, Light Dom/sub, Loss of Trust, M/M, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secrets, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2020-06-27 02:14:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19781161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreveragain87/pseuds/foreveragain87
Summary: Drew is a small town rookie cop who has landed a job in the big city.  As he settles into his new job on the force, he fully expects to encounter the seedy and dark side of the city.  What he doesn't expect is to fall head over heels in love with a poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks who desperately needs his help.





	1. The Cage

**Author's Note:**

> Main Character Information: 
> 
> Drew: Tall, well-built and dark haired, in his early 20's. He comes from a good home and possesses small town values. As a young rookie cop, he is self-confident that he can come in and do some good in a city that needs it. 
> 
> Aiden: Small-framed, petite, blond and blue eyed. His true age is unclear at the beginning, but he's clearly a lost child that got tossed into the streets and had to learn to fend for himself. He is street-smart in some ways, but naïve in others.

10:00 p.m. A police car whizzed down the street, its siren blaring loudly as it sped past the two men on the dimly lit sidewalk. The younger of the two men looked up and read the sign of the establishment they were about to enter - 'The Cage.' They opened the door and entered the foyer of the night club that was smack dab in the worst part of the city - but these two were not there by choice.

As they stood in the short line to pay their cover charge to gain entrance, the younger of the two took a moment to look around and take mental notes for himself. Not only was this his first time in a club of this sort, but it was his first serious assignment and he wanted to make sure he left no stone unturned. He might be at a place of entertainment tonight, but he certainly wasn't here for kicks. He was on the clock and getting paid for every unpleasant minute he had to spend here.

Off to the side he noticed a large display board with 5x7 glossy photos of the dancers that were working this evening. He ran his eyes over them, stopping for a moment on one in particular. The photo showed a rather young looking blond boy with large blue eyes and a pretty face. He made a mental note to get a good up-close look at him once he got inside. He barely looked 18, which would definitely be a violation if he could prove it.

Not even fully inside yet, the loud booming music could be heard in the foyer. While waiting in line, the slightly older man spoke in a hushed voice. "Just keep your cool, Drew. You have your assignment. You know what questions to ask. We get in and we get out with as much information as we can get without attracting attention. Just remember that."

Drew nodded his head and anxiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other until it was his turn at the window to pay the cover fee, show his ID, and get his hand stamped to gain entrance.

"Ya been here before?" the burly male attendant barked at him from behind the filthy glass ticket window.

"Uh, no...no, sir. First time here."

The attendant grimaced and sighed as that meant he had to recite the rules yet again, which he proceeded to do in a bored monotone. "No touching the dancers! No photographs of any kind! Private rooms are $40 for 20 minutes. You go over the 20 minutes we charge you another $40. Bouncers are in there to watch everything. You pull a phone out to take a picture and you're ass will be tossed out in the alley! Understood?"

The rookie cop silently nodded his understanding of the club rules and stepped aside so his partner could pay.

"I already heard the rundown of the rules - no need to say them again, buddy!" the other man laughed lightly to the ticket employee. Not finding it at all amusing, the grumpy attendant simply stamped his hand and barked that they could now go in.

As the two entered the club, "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive could be heard blaring loudly through the sound system. "Must be '80's night tonight!" Drew shouted to his partner over the music.

They discovered they needed a moment to adjust their eyes to the darkened room, but even in the poorly lit space they could see this wasn't what one would call a high class club. The furnishing and décor were sorely lacking and appeared quite old and tattered. A long bar was at one end of the club with some tables and chairs set up and several couches. A DJ had a corner spot where he programmed and played his music - anything with a loud thumping bass and fast dance tempo seemed to do. Random colored ceiling lights were synchronized to flash along with the music. There were several large and muscular bouncers strategically placed throughout the club, eyeing every patron with a certain level of contempt and suspicion. A few scantily clad male waiters were bustling about, bringing drinks and food to some of the tables.

Drew noticed a hallway toward the back of the club that was carefully manned by yet another broad-shouldered bouncer. It was hard to see, but he surmised it was likely the hallway the led to the private rooms. That was one of the many things the police chief hoped Drew and his partner could gain some information on. Prostitution of any kind was illegal in this city, even though it had been going on uncontested for years. The club's formal policy stated that the private rooms were for private dancing or one-one-one conversation for those preferring a quieter setting, but that any and all sexual activity was strictly prohibited. And yet nobody in their right mind believed that.

Drew turned his attention to the focal point of the room - a raised stage toward the back that consisted of what resembled separate metal cages all in a row. There were approximately a dozen cages, each one containing a different male dancer.

As Drew's eyes ran along the cages from left to right, he spotted the blond from his photo in the foyer. He stared as the teen grinded and danced within his metal confinement to the pounding music coming through the sound system. A small crowd of male patrons had gathered in front of the raised stage and were ogling the dancer. Even from this distance back, Drew could tell the blond was a fan favorite. And it was easy to see why. The dancer was petite and lean. He had a pretty face...pouting lips...a perfect ass and...

"Drew?!" A light jab to the ribs startled him, bringing him out of his trance. "Are you listening to me?" his partner asked with a touch of annoyance.

Drew shook his head as if to get himself focused again. "I'm sorry Mike. What were you saying? The music is so loud in here I didn't hear you." _'Good recovery,'_ he thought to himself.

"I said it would probably be best if we split up. We'll have better luck if we're alone. Let's meet back here at this spot in one hour. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Drew nodded. "One hour." He watched as his partner headed off in one direction, feeling rather nervous at the sudden loss. He and Mike had only been partners for a short time, but he had come to rely on the other's experience to guide him through things. This was Drew's first real assignment and having Mike with him gave him a sense of security that he didn't quite have yet when alone.

Sensing that standing in one spot would look rather conspicuous, Drew headed over to the bar to get a drink. He sat for a bit and nursed his beer, trying to take in the seedy environment and make mental notes along the way. Hopefully his memory would be enough as he certainly couldn't whip out a pad and paper and jot anything down. He watched the bartender for anything suspicious, but saw nothing. He seemed to be making the drinks correctly and charging accordingly. He attempted to make some small talk with some of the other patrons, but small talk was never Drew's strength. Knowing which questions to ask was Mike's forte. Mike had been on the force for over 10 years and knew what to ask, and more importantly, what NOT to ask. The last thing Drew wanted to do was blow his cover and be tossed out in the alley by a bouncer over an ill-timed question that would blow his cover. He had begged to get away from the dull desk work that the police chief had initially put him on, but now that he actually had a serious assignment, he was beginning to doubt his readiness to handle it.

Feeling he had been sitting at the bar long enough and not getting anywhere, Drew decided to move around and see if he would have better luck somewhere else. He walked slowly toward the back of the club, being careful to pay attention to everything without appearing like he was studying anything. Establishments like this were always on guard for undercover cops and he was mindful of that. For the past 20 years the police department had turned a blind eye towards places like this because of bribes the former police chief had been taking. But since the old chief's retirement, the new and by-the-book chief had decided it was high time that came to an end. Undoing 20 years of illegal activity was going to take a while to conquer, but Drew was anxious to be involved in it, no matter how small his part.

Drew found himself walking closer toward the caged dancers. He took a mental inventory of the young men who were inside of them. There were a few that looked to be in their early 20's, but there were also some who appeared to be much younger. If all he did was get some solid proof that they were hiring under aged employees, that could be just the break they needed to get a search warrant and potentially discover more. Under aged employees was probably just the tip of the iceberg, and Drew wanted nothing more than to be the one to uncover whatever illegalities were hidden just below the surface.

Drew's eyes again fell upon the attractive blond within the cage. He had on a small pair of white booty shorts that hugged his bottom and allowed just a small amount of his ass cheeks to show. He wore lace-up black boots and a see-through black mesh top that rose up to expose much of his abdomen whenever he raised his arms above his head as he danced. The shirt stopped just short of showing his nipples, much to Drew's dismay. He might be on the clock, but he was still human and certainly wouldn't have minded seeing a little bit of eye candy. The dancer's blond hair flew about as he danced, covering his face from time to time, but Drew could clearly see he was beautiful.

Sensing eyes upon him, the blond looked over, smiled, and made direct eye contact with Drew. Drew felt a sudden flush across his cheeks, realizing the blond had caught him staring. He took a deep breath, mentally telling himself that that was the whole point of this club - to stare at and admire the dancers. So he hadn't done anything out of the norm to arouse suspicion. And if he could just manage to talk to one of these dancers, perhaps he could find out a bit more.

The blond dancer stuck his arm out through the bars of the cage, pointed directly at Drew, and then motioned with a curled index finger that he wanted Drew to come closer.

 _'Okay...here's your chance. Don't fucking blow it!'_ Drew thought to himself as he put on his game face and approached the dancer. He felt the heat in his cheeks rising, not completely sure whether it was due to nerves about the thinly veiled questions he knew he needed to ask, or if it was because the blond was so dam attractive.

As Drew approached the elevated cage, the dancer crouched down so that they could speak. Placing his arms on one of the horizontal metal bars of the cage, he rested his cheek on one arm in almost a child-like manner and smiled. "Hi! This is your first time here, isn't it?" he shouted so he could be heard over the heavy bass of the music, which had now switched to Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle."

Drew feigned a look of surprise and then grinned, trying his best to appear like just another customer. "How'd you guess?" he laughed.

The blond sat down on his bottom and swung his legs out under the bottom metal bar of the cage. "I could just tell," he smiled.

Drew paused for a moment, not knowing what to do or say. He looked into the dancer's large blue eyes, momentarily getting lost in them and forgetting what he was even here for. _'Get it together Drew! Ask him something!'_ he internally yelled at himself.

"Uh, so...yeah, um...so how long have you been working here?" he asked, then scowled at how stupid his question probably sounded. He nervously ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself.

The blond scrunched up his face for a moment as if trying to think. "A couple of months I guess." He watched as the new customer in front of him seemed rather ill-at-ease, shifting his weight back and forth and avoiding eye contact. He laughed a little to himself at the man's nervousness. "You don't have to be nervous, you know. I don't bite...much," the dancer grinned mischievously.

Drew laughed lightly, mumbling something about having come with a friend and just not knowing where he had wandered off to. His eyes darted around the club in the hopes of locating Mike for backup, but he was nowhere to be found.

Finding Drew's nervousness around him rather sweet, the blond motioned for him to come a little closer to the cage. Drew leaned forward at the request. The dancer positioned himself close to Drew's ear. "You wanna go somewhere a little more quiet?" he asked.

 _'Oh my God, yes!'_ Drew said silently to himself. Someplace quieter where he could get some information is exactly what he needed. "Yeah, that sounds good," he replied.

The blond then stood up and unlocked his cage door from the inside, allowing him to step out. He jumped down from the elevated staging and grabbed Drew by the elbow, directing him toward the hallway that was stationed by the large, beefy bouncer.

Not knowing exactly what was going on, Drew stood back while the blond said something to the bouncer, a man who looked like he could snap somebody's neck in two with just his thumb and forefinger. Drew took a moment to notice the bouncer's wife-beater tank that showed off multiple tattoos up and down his arms, as well as the pair of steel toed boots that he wore. He was most definitely not the type of guy you would want to come across in a dark alley.

"Forty dollars," the bouncer barked at Drew. Not about to argue with the 6 foot 5 inch hulk of a man, Drew quickly took two 20-dollar bills out of his wallet and handed it over.

"Room 5" the bouncer barked to the blond who then headed down the hallway. Drew followed, not fully sure what had just happened, but knowing he needed to just go with the flow at this point so as to not arise suspicion. They passed several rooms, each with a number on the outside of the door. As they came upon door #5, the blond opened it up and the two entered. Upon first glance, it appeared to resemble a small motel room. There was a large bed, a night stand and lamp, and two chairs.

Closing and locking the door behind him, the blond then stepped in front of Drew. "It's a lot quieter in here," he stated.

"Uh....yeah, yeah it...it is," Drew stuttered, not sure what he had gotten himself into. "The music is so loud out there that..." he began, but before he could finish his sentence the young dancer leaned in, placing his lips upon Drew's. Startled at the sudden gesture, Drew quickly recoiled.

"What's wrong?" the blond asked in complete surprise.

"What's wrong? Oh, well, Jesus Christ, where do I begin?" Drew muttered, feeling completely unnerved now. Things had seemingly gone a little off course. He wanted to get to the bottom of the private rooms, of course, but he hadn't planned on actually entering one. He was here to do a job for God's sake, not commit a crime himself. His thoughts raced as he tried to figure out how to best handle the situation without blowing his cover. "Well, for starters, I don't even know your name," he smiled anxiously.

The blond blinked several times at the odd question, having never had a customer concerned with his name before. "Aiden. What's yours?"

"Drew...it's Drew. Well, technically it's Andrew. My dad used to call me Andy growing up...but...but I always hated that....and uh, yeah. So now I go by Drew. Just...just Drew," he stammered as he finished his rather wordy answer as the flush in his cheeks appeared again. He knew he had been rambling pure nonsense as the blond surely didn't give a shit what his name really was, but at this point his mind was racing as to how best to get things back on track.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Drew!" Aiden smiled and stuck his hand out for a formal handshake, to which the other uncomfortably reciprocated. "Now that we know each other, you have about 18 minutes left on this room. I'm assuming you want a blow job?" he queried with a smirk.

A small light bulb when off in Drew's head. This was solid proof that the back rooms were NOT being used solely for private dancing, but for soliciting sexual acts. Drew took a deep breath before answering. He had a lead to go on now and didn't want to ruin that. Yeah, he dam sure wanted a blow job from the attractive dancer, but he knew he couldn't do that. Legally it was wrong - he was here undercover and working for the police department. But morally it was wrong as well. This kid barely looked legal. He chose his words carefully before speaking, not wanting to arouse any suspicion of why he was truly there.

"Well, honestly, as great as that sounds, I'm gonna have to pass," Drew began, looking a bit sheepish. "When you asked if I wanted to go someplace quiet, I didn't realize you meant this. I'm sorry...it's not that I don't like you. It just that clubs like this are a bit new to me...I've never been to one before and I...I hope you understand?"

Aiden's eyes opened wide, only now realizing there had been a misunderstanding. "Oh no, that's okay. I'm sorry! I can get your $40 back for you. I just figured...I mean, you were kind of staring at me so...you know, I just thought..." he finished, a bit embarrassed and confused at the situation.

Drew laughed lightly under his breath and shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay. I don't need the $40 back." He then realized that he was now in a perfect position to ask further questions. "Um...just out of curiosity though, how much of that $40 do you actually get to keep at the end of the night?" he queried. Finding out how the boys were paid could be critical.

"It's always different," Aiden began. "We get a percentage of what the club brings in. It usually averages out to about $7 an hour. That's about it. Whether we just dance the whole time or get called into a back room, it's all the same. About $7 - in cash," he stated matter-of-factly.

Another mental note was jotted down in Drew's racing brain. If that was true, the boys weren't even being paid minimum wage, and under the table to boot - something the IRS wouldn't be happy about. Drew looked thoughtfully at the boy, trying to gauge if he could dig a little deeper now that they had appeared to have broken the ice. "Well, I guess since the room is paid for, you might as well sit down and get off your feet for a bit, right?"

Aiden smiled and wasted no time in jumping onto the bed and laying down on his back. It wasn't often he got a chance to rest during working hours. If he wasn't dancing, then he was pleasing a customer, and that could be very tiring after a few hours. "You wanna sit too?" Aiden asked while patting the other side of the bed with his hand. "I mean, you ARE paying for it after all," he smiled.

Drew shook his head no and smiled back. "I'll take this chair right here." He then moved the chair a little closer to the bed and sat down.

"So what are we gonna do for 15 more minutes?" Aiden asked while staring up at the ceiling, having never had this unusual circumstance happen before.

Seeing the opportunity dangling in front of him, Drew took it. "Talk. We could just...talk." He fidgeted in his seat in his attempt to appear nonchalant and casual, even though he wasn't. Things appeared to be back on track and he didn't want to blow it.

Aiden raised one eyebrow at him, having never encountered a customer like this before. Customers who pay $40 don't normally want to just chit-chat the whole time. He propped himself up on one elbow to study Drew a little more. The new customer was very handsome, well-built and muscular. He had neat dark hair and large brown eyes, was dressed impeccably, and even smelled good. He was definitely a caliber up from some of the usual clientele that came through the club's front door. "How old are you? What do you do for work? You act different - you're not from here, are you?" Aiden suddenly peppered him with questions.

Drew smiled, knowing that answering a few questions could make Aiden more comfortable in talking, so he readily provided the answers.

"Well, I just turned 22. I'm finishing up my last year of college. And no, I'm not from here. I'm from a tiny town about five hours north of here. You've probably never even heard of it," he answered, deliberately avoiding the work question. He then asked his own question before Aiden noticed the deliberate omission of occupation. "And how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Come on," Drew laughed lightly. "How old are you, really?"

Aiden squinted his eyes slightly. "Eighteen," he said again, but in a more serious tone. He knew better than to say anything else.

Sensing he wasn't going to get an honest answer, and not wanting to tip him off that he was being grilled, Drew tried to cover his steps. "Okay, okay! You just have that whole baby-face thing going on, that's all. You look pretty young."

Aiden smiled at what he took to be a compliment. "Yeah, well Lenny only hires you if you look real young. That's what most of his customers want I guess."

Drew's eyes lit up at the mention of the club owner. "So uh, who's Lenny?" he asked as casually as he could. He knew exactly who Lenny was, but playing dumb on the matter would be in his best interest right now. Lenny was the entire reason he and Mike were here digging for dirt.

"Well, Lenny owns the club. You have to have a certain look to work here I guess. I just came in one day looking for work and he hired me on the spot. I guess I was just lucky, you know?" Aiden chirped.

Drew felt his heart break a little at the statement. Aiden actually thought he was lucky to be working here in this shithole - how sad was that? He listened quietly, mentally trying to remember everything that was being said in case any of it helped the pending case against bringing the club owner down.

"Lenny takes care of us too," Aiden carried on. "He doesn't pay us much, but we all share a flat together behind the club. Lenny owns the building and he gives us the whole fourth floor to ourselves. We don't have to pay rent or nothing."

 _'How could anybody pay rent only making $7 an hour?'_ Drew thought to himself silently. "So, you all live together? All you dancers?" he asked, wanting to get more information.

"Yup," Aiden replied. "There's about 20 of us right now."

"Twenty of you? All in the same apartment?" Drew asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Lenny likes us all to stay there so he knows where we are all the time in case..." Aiden paused for a moment, knowing he was probably talking too much. But it was rare that he had a chance to talk with somebody as nice as Drew. "...um...just so he knows we're safe and stuff," he finished, rather unconvincingly.

Even as a rookie Drew was able to catch the fact that the blond almost spilled more information than he had intended to. "That sounds really great. Almost like summer camp, but year round, right?" Drew joked in an attempt to indicate that he hadn't picked up on anything.

Aiden shrugged. "I dunno. I never went to summer camp. Maybe," he stated softly. "But you know what? You're really different - you're nice. Most of the guys that come in here, they're kind of sad and pathetic, you know? And you wouldn't believe how many of them are married with kids."

"Really?" Drew responded in genuine surprise.

"Oh yeah," Aiden continued as he rolled over onto his stomach and stuffed a pillow under his arms and chin so he could look at Drew better. "Half of 'em don't even bother to take off their wedding rings when they come. I guess they're just not happy at home or whatever. So they come here to fuck around. And since it's with another man and not a woman, somehow they convince themselves that they're not really cheating on their wives. Pretty weird, huh?"

Drew nodded his head in agreement and continued to listen. As long as Aiden was willing to sing like a bird, Drew would listen.

"Yeah, well, a lot of the older guys that come here are just lonely. So if we have, like, five minutes left on the room they just kind of use me as a counselor or therapist or something," Aiden laughed. "They tell me all their problems, how their wives don't understand them, how their kids don't listen to them, how their bosses overwork them - blah blah blah. Then they put on their pants and go home." Aiden paused for a moment as if in deep thought. "That's kind of sad, isn't it?"

"It is sad," Drew agreed.

Aiden nodded his head, then sat up and criss-crossed his legs on the bed. "So, you got a wife?" he asked bluntly.

Drew laughed out loud. "Oh God, no! No wife for me. I'm as gay as you get. Knew it when I was about 12 or so."

"So...you got a....a husband? A boyfriend?" Aiden queried.

Drew sighed a little at the question. The past was the past and he didn't like discussing it. But if he wanted Aiden to trust him, perhaps being a little bit vulnerable and transparent would help.

"I HAD a boyfriend. Honestly, I thought he was the one, you know?" Drew leaned forward a bit in his chair as he continued. "We were together for about two years. We even lived together for the last year. It was perfect. I was so happy and I thought we'd just go on being happy forever, you know?"

"So what happened?" Aiden asked.

"Well, he..." Drew paused for a second, knowing just saying the words would be like reinserting the knife into his back. "He cheated on me. He'd been doing it for quite a while by the time I found out. And what made it even worse was that it was with somebody who I thought was a good of friend of mine." He winced slightly as he finished his words. "I lost the person I thought was my soul mate AND my best friend both at once."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Aiden said as he moved to the edge of the bed, as if to get physically closer to Drew.

"Ahh, it's okay," Drew replied with a flip of his hand to indicate he was over it now. "It was better I found out two months ago instead of 10 years from now that he was a cheating, lying, asshole, no good son of a bi..." He cut himself short, not wanting to lose his emotions while he was on duty and trying to work. He put his anger in check, took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dump my problems on you."

Aiden leaned forward on the bed and placed one hand on Drew's knee. His question had clearly upset Drew and he felt badly. "It's okay. I hear a lot of people's problems. I'm used to it."

A sudden knock on the door startled Drew. "Five minutes!" a loud and gruff voice bellowed through the closed door. He assumed it was the bouncer with the steel toed boots making sure the 20 minute rule was being followed.

"Well, I suppose I should get back out there and find my friend," Drew stated as he rose from the chair and moved closer to the door. "He'll be wondering where I went," he smiled.

"Is he really _just_ your friend?" Aiden pried. Not that it was any of his business, but Drew was so handsome and kind he couldn't imagine another man not wanting to snap him up.

Drew smiled at the question. "He really is _just_ my friend." He then put a hand up to the side of his mouth as if he was going to whisper a secret that he didn't want to be overheard. "He likes girls! Can you believe it? Ick!"

Aiden laughed out loud at Drew's sense of humor and then stood up from the bed. "So, you gonna come back again?" he asked hopefully, looking up at Drew with large eyes.

Drew stared at the young blond boy for a moment. What an odd and peculiar situation he found himself him. He was here to do a job - to get as much dirt on the scumbag lawbreaker who was running this joint as he could, and yet he almost felt like he was developing some sort of feelings for this poor kid. He promptly shook the feelings off.

"Probably not," Drew stated. As far as he knew this was just a one night assignment for him and Mike. Noting the disappointment in Aiden's face, he then brightly added, "But you never know, right?"

Aiden nodded and gave a sad half-smile that indicated he understood Drew would not be back. He then walked to the door and placed his hand on the doorknob. But before opening it, he turned around to speak.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Drew. Thanks for paying $40 to let me lay down for a while. That's about the nicest thing anybody's ever done for me." He gave him a shy smile, then opened the door and walked out of the room, down the hallway, and back toward the cage where he had previously been to carry on with his work for the night.

Drew exited the room and stepped out into the main area of the club, watching as Aiden put himself back into position. He noticed the heads of several men turn who had been milling about as they took notice of the blond returning to the staging area. Drew could feel a burning heat building in the pit of stomach as he knew what were on the minds of the men. He had really only known Aiden for 20 minutes, but he couldn't deny that familiar feeling of jealousy that was brewing inside of him as he watched them stare him down.

"Hey!"

Drew jumped nearly out of skin as he felt a hand on his shoulder and a voice in his ear. "I'd been wondering where you had been. We were supposed to meet back up 10 minutes ago."

Drew turned around to see his partner Mike standing there. "Sorry, man. I got distracted. I was talking to one of the employees and lost track of time."

"You got an employee to talk to you?" Mike asked with a surprised look on his face. "That's amazing! Let's get out of here and talk about what we each got. This shitty dive skeeves me out," he stated with a look of disgust on his face.

Drew turned to follow Mike out of the club, only pausing for a moment to look toward the back of the club. The guitar riff from the Bangles' "Hazy Shade of Winter" began to blare through the sound system. He noticed Aiden was standing still in the dance cage, watching him leave. Drew raised an arm to wave goodbye to him. Through the darkness of the club he could just make out Aiden mouthing the word "Bye" from within his cage.


	2. A Rainy Night

Drew sat in his car in the parking lot outside the club, the rain coming down now in torrents. He watched as people scattered across the busy street like insects once a large rock has been lifted up exposing their hiding place - everybody scurrying as quickly as possible in the night to get out of the rain. As he waited for it to let up a bit, he mentally went over what he and Mike had talked about a few nights ago.

After leaving the club that first time, they both sat down at the police station to discuss the assignment and compare notes. It was evident that Drew had gotten the majority of valuable information. And because of that, the decision had been made to send only Drew back in to speak to Aiden in hopes of getting him to breakdown and give a full confession to the illegalities going on inside. Simply hearsay wasn't going to be enough to get a search warrant. Drew had nothing on audio or in writing, so he needed to gather a bit more evidence before they could move ahead.

Drew internally rehearsed what he wanted to say once back inside the club, and even had some scenarios planned out in the event that Aiden caught on to him this time. If that was the case, he knew he would have to cut and run as he didn't want to get into a tangle with any of the bouncers. But if he played his cards right, asked the right questions at the right time, he was confident that tonight would go as well as the first night had.

As the rain momentarily lightened up, Drew decided it was now or never to make a run for the front door of the club. He made a mad dash and managed to make it inside without getting too drenched. He checked the board of photos to make sure Aiden was working this evening and, upon seeing it, approached the ticket window. This time Drew answered "Yes," when asked whether he had been here before. He again showed his ID, paid his cover charge and got his hand stamped.

As Drew entered the club he immediately walked toward the back of the room where the cages were, but as he soon realized that Aiden was not among the dancers tonight. All the cages were filled - except one. His eyes turned toward the private hallway as a sick feeling began in the pit of his stomach. If Aiden wasn't dancing in a cage, he was probably in one of the private rooms. Just the thought of it turned his stomach.

Out of the corner of his eye, Drew then saw some commotion from across the room. Coming out of the men's restroom was none other than the club owner himself, Lenny, his arms flailing and yelling, although with the loud music Drew couldn't hear what was being said. Trailing behind Lenny was Aiden. At first glance, all Drew could zero in on were the tiny, tight shorts that Aiden had on. But he soon realized that Aiden appeared to be holding a wad of bloodied tissues to his nose in an attempt to stop it from bleeding.

Drew's initial gut instinct told him that Lenny had probably hauled off and popped Aiden in the nose for some small infraction. It had been rumored that Lenny often got physical with his young employees, but Drew knew he needed to keep his cool and began to slowly walk over to see for himself. As he crossed the floor, he could see Lenny still waving his arms about, still screaming at Aiden, and angrily pointing to the door that said "Manager." Suddenly, Lenny raised his right arm high in the air and swung down hard as he hit Aiden on the left side of his head, causing the blond to stumble off to the side as he attempted to regain his balance.

Drew's eyes opened wide and his pulse rate quickened after witnessing the strike. He balled his fists up in anger as he walked faster, but before he could reach the two, Lenny quickly stormed off and exited the club through the back door, leaving Aiden standing alone and a bit dazed. As much as he wanted to confront Lenny for what he did, Drew knew his departure was for the best. If he had gotten his hands on Lenny it would have taken a bouncer or two to get him off, and in the end all that would have been accomplished would be his removal from the case entirely. He took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure.

Drew approached Aiden from behind and placed his hand firmly on the blond's shoulder. "Hey? Are you okay?!" he asked with concern.

Aiden turned around quickly, somewhat startled by the touch. His eyes opened wide in surprise at seeing Drew again. "Hey! What are you doing here?" he asked with a smile, still holding the bloodied tissues to his nose with one hand and the side of his head with the other.

"Never mind that - what the hell is going on here? Here, let me see that," Drew stated as he pulled the tissues away to inspect Aiden's bloody nose.

"Oh, I'm okay. It's just a bloody nose - it was an accident. Jimmy was climbing out of his cage and I was trying to get in and his elbow caught me in the nose," he laughed with slight embarrassment. "It was my fault."

Drew raised an eyebrow as he looked at him suspiciously, assuming he was lying and simply covering up for Lenny. He had just witnessed the owner of the club hit him in the head, so a punch in the nose didn't seem to be a far reach. "I just saw Lenny cuff you in the head, Aiden!" Drew folded the tissues around to get a clean spot and pressed it up against Aiden's nose again.

"Oh..." Aiden replied looking down in embarrassment as he realized Drew had actually witnessed Lenny strike him. He then looked back up at Drew. "Well...I don't think he really meant to. Lenny's just really pissed off at me right now. After Jimmy's elbow hit me and my nose started bleeding he got really mad. It's because I can't get back in the cage and dance with blood all over my shirt, or do any private rooms. So that's lost money in Lenny's eyes, and he hates that. So instead of dancing, he told me to work in his office for the rest of the night. Balance the books and stuff," he stated with a shrug. "But it's not so bad, cuz I get to sit down. So it all worked out okay I guess" he smiled shyly.

Drew frowned, not believing Aiden's story at all, when another dancer approached looking rather concerned.

"You're sure you're okay, Aiden? I'm so sorry," the other dancer stated to him.

"I'm fine - honest. Don't worry about it. It was just an accident - I know you didn't mean it," Aiden replied with a smile and the other dancer nodded in relief and walked back to his station.

"I'm assuming that's Jimmy," Drew smiled, a bit relieved that at least the first injury Aiden received tonight had truly been just an honest mishap.

Aiden smiled and shook his head. He removed the wad of blood-soaked tissues, his nose having finally stopped bleeding. "I have to go into the office now and work. Lenny will be really mad if he comes back and thinks I'm goofing off. I'm sorry. Will you come back again?" he asked, disappointed that he wouldn't be able to spend any time with Drew this evening.

"Well, I was wondering..." Drew began, trying to shift gears at not being able to talk to Aiden tonight as planned. If Aiden had access to the office and financial records, that could be what breaks this case wide open. And if he could get Aiden away from the club and on neutral ground, he might be more willing to talk openly.

"You guys are allowed to go out and stuff, aren't you?" Drew asked, not sure what Lenny's rules for them were.

"Oh sure. As long as it's not our night to work."

"Well, would you want to um...you know, uh...go out somewhere? Maybe do something...together?"

"Like a date?!" Aiden blurted out almost before the question had been asked. "Tomorrow! I'm not working tomorrow!" he stated with a bounce of excitement.

Drew smiled a little at the other's eagerness. It wasn't a real date as far as he was concerned; simply a better chance of getting further information that he needed. But Aiden was certainly easy on the eyes and seemed like a nice kid, so it wouldn't be a bad way to spend an evening. "Okay, okay!" Drew chuckled. "Tomorrow it is then. I'll swing by and get you at 6:00. Is that okay?"

"Yeah! I'll be ready. When you come, just walk down the back alley to the building right behind the club - the old brick one. Just bang on the back door real loud."

"Okay," Drew replied. He watched as Aiden made his way to the manager's office and unlocked the door with a key. He then gave a big smile and a wave as he closed the door. And with that, Drew headed for the exit, happy to get out of the shithole club. He was still steaming at what he just witnessed Lenny do to Aiden. Unfortunately, unless Aiden were to come forward and press charges, nothing could really be done about it...and he knew Aiden wasn't going to do that.

Drew pulled the collar of his jacket up a little higher on his neck as he stepped out onto to the street and raced to his car in the pouring rain. Tonight certainly hadn't gone as planned, but Drew was fairly confident that tomorrow night would. Away from the club, he would be able to question Aiden further, and hopefully that would be the end of his involvement with Lenny and The Cage...as well as Aiden.


	3. A Somber Home

_~The following night~_

Drew parked his car on the street, exited, and walked down the filthy alley that separated the nightclub from the old apartment building. The stench was horrific and there was garbage and debris scattered everywhere, including what appeared to be dirty needles strewn about. He frowned to himself as he stepped cautiously out of fear of landing on a dirty syringe. This city was a far cry from the small, close-knit town where he had grown up. And even though he had been living here for the past few years, he doubted he would ever get used to this dirty, filthy, overcrowded city.

He approached the back door of the building and realized why Aiden had instructed him to 'bang real loud' - the buzzer and intercom system had been completely ripped out and was simply dangling by one mere electrical cord. Drew side-stepped away from it so as to not accidentally touch it and electrocute himself and banged on the door as loudly as he could.

While waiting for someone to answer, he looked upward at the four-story building. It had to be over 100 years old he surmised. And from the looks of it, Lenny hadn't done any maintenance or repairs on it in that period of time either. He wondered how much rent he charged the poor tenants of the dilapidated structure to live here every month.

After a few moments a young man opened the door, looking half-asleep and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, hey. I'm here to see Aiden," Drew smiled.

"Sure, sure. Come on in."

Drew followed the other young man up three flights of old rickety stairs until they had reached the fourth floor flat. Upon entering the apartment, Drew was immediately taken aback at the crowded conditions. The living room he was standing in was large in size, but there were clearly too many people occupying the space. There was one couch with two young men asleep on it, each occupying one-half of it. One of them appeared to be Jimmy, whom he had briefly met last night. There were a few old wooden chairs scattered about, but not enough for all the boys in the room to sit on. About a dozen of them were just sitting or laying on the floor watching an old TV that had been placed on a small rickety table.

"Aiden! You got company!" the young man who answered the door yelled, and then sat down on the floor in front of the TV whose volume was almost off.

While waiting, Drew scanned the almost silent room. For such a large group of young men in one space, it was unusually quiet. Several of them were asleep - probably the ones that worked late last night at The Cage. And those that were awake were sullen and silent. It was a somber atmosphere and Drew found it odd. They all appeared to be of a similar age as Drew, a few perhaps being a bit younger, but they all seemed to be lacking any joy or livelihood. Whenever Drew got together with his own friends, they always had plenty to talk and laugh about. But that didn't seem to be the case with this group of young men.

"Hi!"

Drew turned toward the voice and saw Aiden come around the corner, clearly very happy to see him. He had on a pair of tight skinny jeans and a T-shirt, which was far more clothing than he had seen him wearing thus far. "I was hoping you'd still come and not change your mind," Aiden said.

"Why would I change my mind?" Drew asked with a smile.

"I dunno." Aiden shuffled his feet a little nervously. He had spent the day mentally preparing himself in the event that Drew didn't show. Drew was polite, well-dressed, and so handsome that a part of Aiden wondered what interest Drew would have in the likes of him anyway.

Wanting to see more than just the living room of where this crowd of young men lived, Drew then asked "So, you gonna give me the grand tour?"

"Sure, if you want," Aiden shrugged and smiled uncomfortably, knowing there wasn't very much to show him. "Well, you've already seen the living room," he stated as he extended his arms out to emphasize the point. "Over here is our kitchen."

Drew stepped into the kitchen area where one young man was stirring something in a pot on top of a hot plate. He looked up as Drew entered and smiled. "Hey, do you need me to put some dinner aside for you tonight, Aiden?" the man asked.

Aiden looked inquisitively at Drew. "Are you gonna feed me?" he asked point blank.

Drew laughed out loud at the blunt question, but he appreciated Aiden's forwardness. "Yeah, I'm gonna feed you!"

Quite pleased with the answer, Aiden smiled and stated "Nah, you don't need to save me any dinner, Nick. Oh, I'm sorry - I didn't introduce you guys. Drew, this is Nick." Drew held out his hand for a handshake, to which Nick reciprocated.

"Nick does all the cooking for us," Aiden said. "Our stove doesn't work, but he can make anything with the hot plate. He's as good as Emeril!"

Nick smiled and shook his head in the negative. "No, not quite that good, but thanks for the compliment! I just try and make sure all you pains in my ass get fed, that's all," he replied jokingly and returned to his cooking. Drew wondered how that one pot of what looked to be Hamburger Helper was going to stretch to feed approximately 20 people, but he didn't question it.

Aiden then walked down the narrow hallway toward the back of the apartment. "Bathroom," Aiden stated as he pointed to the small room on the left that all 20 boys presumably shared. On the bathroom door was a piece of paper with names and times scrawled on it that appeared to be some sort of shower schedule.

They continued down the hall until they came to the back room, which was clearly used as their sleeping quarters. "And this is our bedroom," Aiden stated as they stepped inside.

Drew's jaw dropped as he looked at the floor which was scattered with random sleeping bags, thin cot mattresses, and assorted blankets. It seemed like each boy had carved out a small area on the floor for their own bedding and that they all slept in the same room, almost on top of one another.

The room was rather chilly and as Drew looked at the windows it was clear why. Two windows were broken and had large cracks in them. One window had been taped with masking tape, while the other looked like a trash bag had been inserted into the crack as a make-shift attempt to keep the wind and rain out.

Taking careful steps so as to not step on anybody's "bed," Aiden grabbed Drew's elbow to show him where he slept. He took him to the far corner of the room that was just beneath one of the broken windows. "This is where I sleep," Aiden pointed at the floor to an old tattered and torn comforter that was folded in half to create a mattress. It didn't appear that he had a pillow or any additional blanket to go with it.

"Is that all you have? Don't you get cold?" Drew asked rather stunned.

Aiden shrugged. "We have a space heater," he stated and pointed to a small plug-in heater on the opposite side of the room. But with all the bedding and blankets surrounding it, the heater was clearly a fire hazard. Drew noticed that a strip of old wallpaper had come loose and was hanging precariously just a few inches away from the heater. If that ever caught fire this entire old building would go up like a match. There were no sprinklers or fire alarms installed that Drew could see, which was common for buildings of this age, but also extremely dangerous. Drew made a mental note to file a report with the fire department tomorrow. This was clearly out of his area, but if a fire violation code could shut Lenny down when nothing else could, then so be it.

Drew glanced around the room and noticed that just a few inches away from Aiden's bedding was a mouse trap, already baited and set. As he looked about, he noticed several more placed throughout the room, as well as multiple "roach motels." There were also small piles of crumbling plaster on the floor that had apparently fallen from the ceiling due to what looked like a recent roof leak.

Drew was speechless, not knowing what to say. These boys were clearly living in squalor. They had no heat, no working stove, minimal food, broken windows, infested with roaches and mice, and without even a proper bed or place to sleep. This apartment wasn't fit for an animal, much less a group of young men. It was no wonder they were all so sad appearing. There was simply nothing to smile about.

To the side of Aiden's bed was a cardboard box. Noticing that Drew was looking at it, Aiden explained "That's my box. I keep whatever's mine in it." He bent over and pulled out a hairbrush, a few T-shirts, a small photo album, and a few other odds and ends that belonged to him.

Drew swallowed hard, trying to ease the lump in the throat that had formed. All of Aiden's worldly possessions were in this one small box.  
He suddenly felt very ill at ease at continuing the "date" that was before him. For the first time since meeting Aiden it dawned on him that perhaps he was using him in much the same way that Lenny was.

Drew shook the feeling off quickly though, telling himself that this was completely different. Sure, Aiden didn't know the real reason he was taking him out tonight, but if Drew could somehow manage to put Lenny behind bars and out of business, ALL of the boys that lived here would be better off for it. And that would surely justify the white lies he had to tell Aiden right now, he reassured himself. Aiden would probably even thank him for it when it was all said and over, he imagined.

"Um...let's go, okay?" Drew stated, feeling a desperate need to remove himself from the dismal living conditions of the building.

Aiden nodded and smiled brightly, extremely happy to be going on what he considered to be a legitimate date; a date with somebody who he was beginning to have feelings for, and who he hoped was feeling the same. 


	4. The "Date"

Drew smiled to himself from across the restaurant table as Aiden woofed down his food like he hadn't eaten in a week. He had been biding his time on asking too many specifics about Lenny's finances too early on, but he felt it was now time to pry a bit more.

Aiden took another big bite of his dinner as he looked around the restaurant in awe. "Dis pwace is pwetty fwancy!" he garbled through a mouthful of chicken tenders and fries.

Drew stifled an outright belly laugh. They were at Friday's for God's sake! Nothing fancy at all, but he was happy Aiden approved of it.

"Glad you like it," Drew grinned and pushed down a laugh. "So uh...how did last night go for you? Having to balance the books and everything for Lenny? That must've taken a long time, huh?" He hoped the open-ended question would give Aiden a lot to answer with.

"Nah, it was pretty easy. The computer kind of does it all," Aiden replied as he washed his food down with some Sprite. "I just enter all the cover charges, the bar tabs, the private room payments...and the software just kinda does the rest."

Drew nodded with interest, keeping mental tabs on all the tiny details Aiden provided as he gabbed away for the next few minutes about his office work the night before. Some of it seemed unimportant right now, but you never knew when something trivial might be what brings a case to a close down the line.

Drew looked up from his meal to see that Aiden had suddenly stopped talking and was staring down at his half-empty plate.

"Is something wrong?"

Aiden looked up at him with a concerned face. "Well, I'm still hungry. But I wanted to bring some home to share with Jimmy." His face showed the difficult dilemma he was in.

"Well, I think we can solve that problem," Drew smiled warmly as he placed his fork down and raised his hand in the air to signal their waitress. "If you're still hungry, then you should finish your dinner," he told Aiden. As the waitress stopped by their table, Drew put in an additional order to go of chicken tenders and fries.

Aiden smiled widely, happy that he could finish his meal _and_ still bring some home to his friend. He blissfully dug back into his dinner, happy that his problem was solved.

Drew continued to question and prod as dinner wore on, and Aiden continued to jabber and answer all the questions in between large bites of food. Having gotten about as much information as he felt Aiden was privy to, Drew pulled out his wallet to pay the bill and tip. The waitress brought over the to-go box and Aiden held onto it tightly as they left the restaurant, guarding it like it contained some priceless treasure.

"So," Drew stated as they walked to his car, "Where to now? Unless you'd rather I take you home?"

"Oh no! Let's stay out awhile," Aiden explained, not feeling the need to go home any sooner than necessary. He was having a good time with Drew and was beginning to feel a pretty strong attraction to him. Drew was handsome, well-dressed, had a nice car and a job; there was nothing to NOT like about him. "We could go down to the river. It's nice down there by the water," Aiden stated as he hopped in the passenger's side of the car.

"Okay then. Just tell me the way because I still don't know my way around this enormous city," Drew chuckled as he exited the restaurant's parking lot.

Drew soon discovered that Aiden wasn't the best navigator as the younger was far too interested in exploring the hundreds of different stations on the car's satellite radio. Twice Drew missed a turn because Aiden hadn't told him in time, but they eventually made it to what Aiden referred to as the river. They parked the car and walked out onto a long public dock. From there they could lean on the edge and look down into the water.

Drew immediately frowned as he did so. What Aiden referred to as a river more closely resembled a cesspool in Drew's opinion. The water was filthy and bits of trash and plastic bottles could be seen floating in it. A foul smell wafted up and there was a greenish-brown coloring to it, making Drew wonder if raw sewerage had somehow backed up into the water. Nothing would surprise him from this lousy city.

"Jesus! Why does it smell like this?" Drew asked with a wrinkle of his nose.

"Does it smell? I don't smell anything. I guess cuz I'm just used to it," Aiden shrugged.

Drew sighed as he looked back down at his reflection in the polluted water. This was a far cry from the lake that he enjoyed as a child growing up - crystal blue and clear, and so clean you could see straight through to the sandy bottom. He practically lived in that beautiful lake every summer while growing up. Why on earth had he thought coming to this city would be a good idea? Sometimes he wished he had never left home. But the excitement of city-life to his then 18-year-old self had spurred him on, and some days he truly regretted the decision.

Sensing that Drew wasn't at all impressed with the city river, Aiden asked, "Don't you have rivers where you come from?"

Drew laughed lightly. "Oh sure, we have rivers. But ours are clean, that's all." The comment came across a little snarky, but it wasn't intentional.

"Oh," Aiden nodded, feeling a bit ashamed that he had taken them here after all. Perhaps having Drew bring him home right after dinner would have been the better option.

"I just get homesick every now and then, you know? Where I grew up, it was just such a great place," Drew sighed slightly. "It was a quiet, peaceful town. It was neighbor helping neighbor. You could leave your doors unlocked and never give it a second thought. When I was a kid I could leave my bike out on the front lawn at night and it would still be there in the morning, you know what I mean?"

Aiden nodded politely, but he couldn't really relate to that type of childhood. It was becoming very clear that Drew had grown up in a much more privileged environment than he had.

"You never heard of robberies, shootings, rapes or murder in my town," Drew continued on. "But this shithole of a city is nothing like that. It's filled with scumbags, drug dealers, pimps and crackheads. It's filthy and it stinks. Why anybody would want to live here is beyond me," Drew finished with a loathing tone dripping off his words as he frowned down at the off-colored water below.

Aiden felt a slight flush in his cheeks. "I'm sorry you don't like it here," he replied softly and feeling slightly ashamed.

Drew looked up quickly. "Oh no, it's fine. Really. It's just not what I'm used to - that's all," he stated hastily in an attempt to cover up the disdain in his voice that he was sure Aiden had registered.

Wanting to change the subject of the putrid river and city, he decided to ask Aiden a little about his background to maybe understand how he got to this place in his life. "So, I'm curious about something Aiden. How come you don't live with your parents?"

Aiden looked back down into the water, feeling uncomfortable at the question. But Drew had been honest and kind to him so far, so he decided to tell him.

"Well, my grandma actually raised me. My mom was kind of in and out of my life. She'd be around for a couple of weeks and then...then she'd just take off with some random guy and I wouldn't see her for months at a time. She wasn't exactly, you know, reliable. She um...I don't think she ever really wanted to be tied down with a kid," he said in a quiet voice. "I was a mistake, if you know what I mean?"

Drew nodded and gave him a sad smile.

"And I never knew my dad. Not sure if my mom ever knew which guy it was either," he smiled uncomfortably. "So I lived with my grandma pretty much my whole life. She took care of me. I loved her a lot and she was all I had. But...but she died last year."

Drew glanced over in surprise at him. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

Aiden simply shrugged and continued. "When she died I couldn't stay in her apartment anymore. There was no way I could pay the rent and stuff on my own. So I dropped out of school and I was just couch surfing for a while. Sometimes I'd sleep outside if it was warm. You know, it's not so bad if it's warm," he stated matter-of-factly. "And not raining. It's not so good if it's raining."

Drew looked down guiltily at his shoes; shoes that probably cost more than Aiden made in a month working at The Cage, and allowed him to continue.

"They have a soup kitchen down on Main Street where you can go to eat and that's where I met Jimmy. He told me I should come down to the club and try and get a job. So I did, and that's how I ended up working at The Cage. I have a place to sleep now and a little bit of money in my pocket. So it's better than being on the street."

Drew swallowed hard, not having expected to hear that story, and not knowing quite what to say. He came from a large and loving family, so it was difficult to learn that Aiden lacked any support system.

"But you know what, Drew? You're wrong," Aiden continued.

"I'm wrong? About what?"

"You're wrong about this city. It isn't all bad. It's just that you haven't met the good people yet. My grandma was born and died here. You would have liked her," Aiden smiled sadly. "And back at our flat, we all help each other. Nick's the oldest, so he looks out for all of us, just like a dad would. He makes sure every one of us gets a hot meal at least once a day. If I don't have any clothes, Jimmy gives me his. And I do the same for him. And when a new dancer comes in, if he doesn't have a mat or a blanket to sleep on, we all pitch in our money to get him one. Nobody sleeps on the bare floor - nobody! We all take care of each other because...because we're all each other's got."

Drew was silent for a moment as he was taken aback by Aiden's comments. It was obvious that his ignorant and blanket assumption of all the people who lived in this city had been way off the mark.

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to judge you or anyone else for living here."

Aiden turned to him and smiled. "Oh, I know you didn't mean it. And it's okay. I get it - you just miss home. I would too I used to live someplace like that. It sounds like you grew up real lucky."

Drew gave him a half-smile, feeling like he had been very much put in his place by the young dancer. "Yeah, yeah I did. I was very lucky. I guess sometimes I forget that," he replied softly. "So uh, it's almost dark. I should probably get you home."

The two returned to Drew's car and on the drive home Aiden pointed out significant points of interest about the city that Drew never knew, like old historical sites, important buildings, an interesting story behind a bridge that had been built in the 1940's, etc. Aiden was actually an excellent tour guide when not distracted or fiddling with the car radio.

As Drew pulled the car up along the sidewalk of the apartment building, he put the car in park so he could turn and face Aiden. "I had a good time tonight. I hope you did too?"

"Oh yeah! I had a great time." Aiden paused for a moment, then took a quick look outside to see if anybody was around. It was completely dark outside by now. "So, you want a blow job now, right?" he asked.

Drew hesitated just a second, then smiled slightly at him and shook his head no. As attractive as Aiden was, he knew he couldn't do that.

Aiden frowned a little. "I don't understand. You're hard to figure out. Don't you like me?" he asked with a touch of disappointment. If there was one thing Aiden knew, it was that men who laid out money on him always wanted something in return, so he was a bit confused.

"I do like you," Drew replied. "I like you very, very much. That's why I can't. It's just...it's not the right time."

Aiden shrugged and picked up the to-go box that he had placed on the floor in between his feet. "Okay then," he sighed. "Well, thanks for taking me out...and for feeding me...and for the extra food so I can share."

"You're welcome," Drew smiled at him. He reached out and put his hand on Aiden's shoulder to give it a squeeze. "Take care of yourself Aiden, okay?" he stated with a slight air of sadness knowing the deplorable situation he was going back to.

Leaning over in his seat, Aiden gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and exited the car. Drew kept his eyes on him the entire time as he headed down the filthy alley to what he called home. He had pumped out about as much information from Aiden as he probably had, so his job was done. There would be no need to see Aiden again after this.

Drew pulled away from the curb and began his drive home, but in the pit of his stomach he felt something unusual - a strong pang of guilt for having used Aiden in this way.


	5. Feelings of Guilt, or Something More?

Sitting on his bed, Drew sighed in frustration as he reread the same page out of his Criminal Psychology textbook for the third time. He had a final exam coming up soon, but he simply couldn't concentrate on it.

Drew tossed his textbook to the side and laid back on his bed, arms folded behind his head, and stared up at the ceiling deep in thought. His studying for the exam could wait till later. He had other things on his mind right now.

It had been one week since his so-called "date" with Aiden and he couldn't get him out of his head. There had been no further discussion at work of his returning to The Cage. The police department was now running with the information he and his partner Mike had gathered. It was now a "hurry up and wait" situation to see if they could proceed with a search warrant or arrest, so Drew's job was done.

But the more Drew thought about his night out with Aiden, the more it ate away at him. Aiden was a nice kid - a decent kid who had simply slipped through the cracks somehow and ended up having to survive on the streets. And there was just something about him...something innocent and naïve about Aiden that tugged away at him, and Drew wasn't happy with how he had left things. He had used him by pulling every bit of information out of the him that he could, then dumped him off in front of his apartment, basically washing his hands of him. There had been further contact - not even a phone call to see how Aiden was. Nothing.

Drew continued to stare up at the ceiling as he thought about it. At this point, he figured Aiden was probably left wondering what had gone wrong. He knew he just left Aiden high and dry, leaving him most likely confused and disappointed. It didn't feel right to Drew and he needed to make it right somehow; he just wasn't sure how.

As he tried figure out what to do, Drew began to think of all the reasons that he had originally come to the big city in the first place. He had always felt confined and held back in his small town, yearning for some sort of excitement and purpose. The humdrum, slow-paced life back in his hometown had created a boredom in him and he had wanted to break free and experience the excitement of life. With his majoring in Government and Law and being hired by the local police department, he had fulfilled at least part of his wish. But he also has a strong desire to help others, and now he had the opportunity right in front of him in Aiden.

Of course, the fact that Aiden was so good looking wasn't lost on Drew either, but he pushed that to back of his mind as much as he could. This was simply a matter of politeness. And business. _Strictly_ business in fact. He needed to set things straight so his conscience could stop gnawing away at him.

Drew sat up, swung his legs over the bed and put his shoes on. This wasn't part of the assignment, but he would deal with the repercussions later if there were any. He knew he needed to head down to that club and, hopefully, find Aiden. He couldn't save every boy in that club, but maybe...maybe just this one.

Drew hopped in his car, headed down to The Cage, and upon entering it for the third time, immediately scanned the room. It appeared to be a rather slow night and there were only four dancers in metal cages, but Aiden was not among them. As he continued to look about the club, he noticed that Aiden was working the bar area this night, serving food and drinks to the few patrons that were there. He was dressed as the other male servers were - tight black leather shorts, no shirt, and a black bowtie around his neck.

Seeing that Aiden was occupied with customers at the moment, Drew decided to hang back, hug the wall for a bit, and silently observe. From his spot in the shadows, Drew kept one eye on Lenny who was seated inside the manager's office. The door to the office was wide open and Lenny appeared to be screaming at somebody on the phone, although he was too far away to hear over the loud booming music.

Suddenly, a loud crash startled Drew and he turned around quickly to see what had happened. A clearly drunk patron had stumbled into Aiden, who had been carrying a tray of alcoholic beverages. The tray had hit the floor with a crash and the beer bottles and glasses had smashed into a hundred different pieces. Aiden immediately dropped to his hands and knees and was frantically trying to clean the mess up as quickly as he could.

Drew watched as the intoxicated customer stumbled away without so much as an 'I'm sorry'. Drew walked over and bent down to offer his assistance. As he began to pick up the broken pieces of glass and place them back on the tray, Aiden nervously spoke without lifting his head or making eye contact. "Thank you, Sir. But you don't have to help. I've got it."

"It's okay, Aiden. I want to help."

Aiden lifted his head at the familiar voice. The distressed look on his face quickly took on a grateful smile, but before he could say anything he was interrupted by shouting.

"What the fuck did you do now?! You fucking idiot!" Lenny screamed as he came running out from the manager's office.

Aiden quickly rose from his knees. "I...I...I'm sorry. A customer bumped into me and..."

"You shut the fuck up!" Lenny bellowed as he pointed his finger at Aiden and leaned aggressively in to him.

Drew immediately noticed Aiden's posture cower as he pulled his forearms up in front of his face and tucked his head in; an unusual reaction, he thought to himself. Unless of course Aiden had a reason to anticipate being struck.

"I don't want to hear any more friggen excuses from you!" Lenny hollered. "You're becoming a huge liability. Every night it's something else! If you're not getting hurt by another dancer, you're breaking something! I ought to fire your dumb ass! Do you know how much this alcohol costs? Do you?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, his face now beet red with rage. "This is gonna come out of your pay tonight - you understand me?!"

Aiden's face was visibly holding back tears at the verbal beatdown he was being given in front of the entire club. He could feel the eyes of all the customers and his fellow co-workers on him.

"Hey! It wasn't his fault," Drew spoke up in an attempt to come to Aiden's defense. "One of your drunk customers just plowed right into him."

Lenny stopped and glared at Drew, looking him up and down. Very few people dared to stand up to Lenny. It was well-known in this city that you simply didn't do that. Not if you wanted your legs to remain unbroken anyway.

"I'll pay for whatever the damage is," Drew stated in calmer voice to try and diffuse the situation. "It was a couple of bottles of beer and some liquor. Just have the bartender put it on my bill. Don't take it out of this kid's pay. It wasn't his fault."

Aiden nervously chewed his lip as his eyes darted back and forth between Lenny and Drew, not sure exactly what was going to happen, or if he was even going to have a job after this. The colder weather was coming and without his job here, he wouldn't be allowed to live in the apartment building with the other dancers. If he got fired tonight, he would be homeless and out on the streets again, and that's the last place Aiden wanted to be.

Folding his arms against his chest, Lenny gave a look of contempt at this brazen customer. "Fine then. If you wanna be the hero and pay for the wasted alcohol and broken glasses, then go right ahead," he sneered.

Drew nodded and Lenny stormed back to his office, but not without one more glare in the direction of Aiden that stated there better not be any more issues tonight.

"Thank you," Aiden gushed with relief at Drew's intervening and helping him not get fired. "Thank you so much!" His eyes were huge and shiny, and he was clearly still fighting back the sting of tears from embarrassment.

As they both bent down to pick up the remaining glass chards, Jimmy approached with a broom. "It's okay, Aiden. I'll finish cleaning this up," he stated while putting a hand on his co-worker's shoulder. "Go take a minute for yourself to calm down."

Aiden thanked him as he and Drew stepped a few paces away to allow Jimmy to sweep the floor completely.

"What are you doing here, Drew?" Aiden asked in surprise. "I didn't think you were coming back. I know you didn't have a good time the other night and I figured you didn't want to see me anymore."

"What? Oh no, not at all. It's just...well...I've been busy with school and work and shit. I had a great time with you last week. Why would you think that I didn’t?"

Aiden shuffled his feet a little as he looked down at the floor. "Well, cuz I took you to see the river and you really hated it," he finally said.

Drew reached out and with his finger lifted Aiden's chin up to indicate he wanted him to look at him. "That's not true. I didn't hate it. I mean, yeah, it smelled a little funky, I’m not gonna lie," Drew laughed to lighten the mood, "but I didn't hate it. I was just happy to be somewhere with you."

Aiden smiled brightly at the kind words. Kinds words were something he seldom heard around here.

"How late do you have to work tonight?" Drew asked sympathetically. He desperately wanted to get Aiden away from this miserable place, even if it was only for a few hours.

"I'm actually done now," Aiden stated as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "The club isn't busy tonight so Lenny already told me to clock out at 10:00. Well, _'screamed'_ at me to clock out at 10:00 is more like it," using finger quotes to emphasis his point.

"Yeah, Lenny seems to be in a pretty bad mood tonight," Drew stated. It was getting a bit late to go out anywhere, but another idea popped into his head.

"So...um...I know this is going to sound really forward of me, but...uh...would you want to come back to my place? Just to hang out I mean - _nothing_ else," Drew quickly clarified so that there would be no misunderstanding of his intentions. "We could watch some TV and you could sleep over if you wanted to. I can take the couch for tonight and then I could bring you back tomorrow."

Aiden looked over his shoulder nervously towards the manager's office. He wanted nothing more to get out of the overcrowded apartment for the night and stay with Drew, but he also knew the rules. "Well...I'd really like to, but..."

"But what?"

"But you'd have to rent me," Aiden stated.

Drew frowned a bit, not fully sure what Aiden meant. "Rent you? I'm not understanding."

Aiden swallowed before continuing. "Well, the rules are that once we're done with work, we have to go back to the apartment for the night. We can go out for a few hours, but not for the whole night - just in case a customer wants one of us after we're closed or something. So if you wanted me to stay overnight, you'd have to rent me first. Those are Lenny's rules. I'd be in a lot of trouble if I broke them," he stated nervously, glancing back towards the manager's office.

Drew pondered it over. The police chief had not approved this visit back to the club, so Drew wasn't fully sure if his "renting" Aiden would be approved of. But no sex was going to take place and it was being done in an attempt to help Aiden and get him out of a bad situation. And more importantly, it would prove that Lenny was soliciting sex acts and prostituting his employees. So Drew figured it would be all right to move ahead with it.

"So, how much will that cost me?"

Aiden shrugged. "Dunno. I've never been rented before. Lenny says I haven't been here long enough and I ain't ready."

Drew smiled sadly at the young dancer. He was happy to hear that Aiden wasn't yet being pimped out like some of the other dancers clearly were, which was even more reason for him to pay Lenny's rental fee and attempt to knock some sense into Aiden's head tonight. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could get through to Aiden and convince him not to return in the morning.

"Okay. Wait here a minute," Drew stated and headed over to the manager's office. Approaching Lenny who was already in a bad mood probably wasn't the best idea, but it seemed that money talked in this establishment.

Lenny looked up from his desk as he sensed somebody standing in the doorway. "Whadya want? I'm busy" he barked.

"How much for Aiden? For the entire night I mean." Drew asked, feeling uncomfortable at even saying the words.

"Well, you’re a regular John D. Rockefeller, aren't you? Haven't you spent enough tonight with the broken inventory you're already paying for?" Lenny sneered at him. "But Aiden? You don't want him," he laughed mockingly. "He's pretty and all, but he ain't ready. He's too timid still. I only send my best and most experienced boys out. I'm not in the business of giving refunds, so the newer ones don't go. Choose someone else, like Nick. I never get any complaints about him."

Lenny then turned his attention back to the papers on his desk to indicate that the discussion was over.

"But I'm the customer. And I want Aiden. The customer's always right, isn't he?" Drew shot back.

Lenny simply shook his head and continued writing in his ledger, not even looking up at Drew.

Refusing to back down on the matter, Drew continued. "I want Aiden! Besides...I like timid and inexperienced. There's nothing like a..." Drew paused and mustered the courage to say the most vile words he could think of to ensure that Lenny would see how serious he was. "...like an innocent, young slut-boy to control and fuck the shit out of all night, is there?" Drew swallowed hard at the words he felt he needed to say to seal the deal. "How much is he?!"

As Lenny looked up, Drew removed his wallet to show that he had a significant amount of cash inside of it. If that didn't convince him to let Aiden go, he didn't know what would.

Lenny crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair, his eyes staring hungrily at the full wallet. This customer was clearly willing to spend a lot of money, which wasn't the case with most of his clientele. And as much a Drew's boldness annoyed him, Lenny wasn't about to pass up the offer of under-the-table cash that he wouldn't have to claim on his taxes. "Two hundred and fifty in cash," he barked out. "For one night. He has to be back first thing in the morning. And NO REFUNDS! If you ain't happy with the little cocksucker, I don't want to hear it!"

Drew contained his burning desire to simply reach out, grab him by the throat and punch him in the face. But instead he kept his cool and counted through the bills in his wallet. Fortunately for him he had just enough to cover the fee. He laid the money on the desk, which Lenny quickly scooped up and counted. Drew thought fast and stated "I want a receipt. I just paid you in cash - so I want a receipt."

Lenny sneered at him, but tore a piece of notebook paper off of his ledger and scrawled "Overnight - Aiden. $250. Paid in full" on it, wrote today's date, and signed it with a large L. Drew tried to contain his excitement as the rumpled piece of paper was passed to him. This was in Lenny's own writing and he knew it would be invaluable to their case.

Aiden had been waiting impatiently where he was told to, chewing on his lip and pacing back and forth. He couldn't hear what had been said, but he had watched the exchange between the two men intently. He was fearful that Lenny was still angry at him and wouldn't let him go on the overnight. After a few minutes, Drew returned.

"All set!" Drew smiled and waved his notebook receipt in the air to indicate it had been finalized.

"Really?!" Aiden exclaimed happy. "How much did I cost?"

Drew's smile faded at the question. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. Let's just go, okay?"


	6. Crossing The Line

As Drew exited his car, he looked tentatively over his shoulder so see if anybody was watching as he and Aiden approached his townhouse apartment. His apartment was on the far outskirts of the city, a much nicer neighborhood than where The Cage was located. Drew knew his nosey neighbors would have a field day if they ever saw him bringing Aiden in, who was clad in nothing but black leather booty shorts and was topless aside for a bow-tie.

Drew quickly inserted the key into his door, flipped the lights on, and allowed Aiden to step inside.

"Wow! This is SO nice!" Aiden exclaimed as he took off like a shot to inspect every corner of the apartment, running through the living room first. "Whoa! That TV is huge!" he stated as he saw the extra large flat screen mounted to the wall. "It must feel like being in the movie theater when you watch it, huh?"

Not waiting for Drew to answer, Aiden then bounded into the kitchen and began to open cupboards and drawers in his attempt to check everything out. As he stood in front of the refrigerator, he asked "What does this do?" as he simultaneously pushed a button on the door. He jumped back at the noise it made and was surprised to see three ice cubes come tumbling out and fall to the floor. "Your refrigerator makes ice?!" he asked with astonishment. "That's crazy! I love it!" he laughed.

Aiden continued to poke around in drawers and cabinets, including a full inspection of the contents of the refrigerator and freezer, to which Drew simply stood back and allowed. His houseguest apparently hadn't been taught the politeness and niceties of being a guest in somebody's home, but Drew found it rather amusing and didn't mind.

Aiden poked his nose into the downstairs bathroom and then noticed the staircase. He ran up the stairs to explore the second floor, which contained the bedroom. From downstairs, Drew could hear him rummaging about on the floor above. "Wow! You have TWO bathrooms in this place?" he heard Aiden shout in amazement.

Drew chuckled to himself as he ascended the stairs to find Aiden in the bathroom exploring the medicine cabinet. Drew suddenly remembered what was stored in his nightstand and turned quickly to look at it. The drawer of the nightstand where he kept his gun was still tightly closed. He breathed a sigh of relief, walked over to the nightstand and locked it with a key. With the way Aiden was plowing through the apartment it would only be a matter of time before he opened the drawer and discovered the gun.

As Drew slipped the key back under the lamp where he hid it, Aiden popped his head out of the bathroom. "Do you have hot water here?"

"Of course."

"Can I take a shower? We don't always have hot water at home."

"Sure." Drew entered the bathroom and pulled a towel out and showed Aiden how to adjust the water temperature. As he started to exit the bathroom, Aiden spoke. "Um...I just remembered. I forgot to bring clean clothes to change into," he stated sheepishly, removing the bow-tie from his neck and placing it beside the sink. He hadn't really forgotten to bring them; he just didn't have any. But he didn't want to tell Drew that.

"Not a problem," Drew smiled. He opened up his dresser drawer and pulled out a T-shirt and some lounging pants. "Here you go. They might be a little big on you though." Drew was a good five inches taller and at least 30 pounds heavier.

"That's okay. I don't mind. Thanks!" Aiden stated happily and then closed the door of the bathroom to take his shower.

Drew went downstairs and entered the kitchen. He wasn't much of a cook, but if Aiden's appetite the other night was any indication, he would probably be hungry after his shower. He pulled a skillet out and began to prepare a grilled cheese sandwich for Aiden.

After what seemed like quite a while, Aiden eventually came downstairs; his wet hair stuck to his head and Drew's clothes almost falling off of him. Aiden yanked the waist line of the pants up with one hand as they began to slide down his narrow hips.

"There you are! I was getting worried. I was afraid you might have fallen down the drain!" Drew joked at the lengthy shower. "Have a seat. You hungry?"

Aiden nodded his head and plopped himself on a stool at the center island and watched Drew as he finished cooking. Discovering that the stool could rotate, he occupied himself by spinning himself in one direction, and then the other. Drew smiled out of the corner of his eye as Aiden entertained himself. It was rather ironic how childlike he could be; yet at the same time he was in the adult entertainment industry. Aiden was certainly a paradox.

Drew served up the grilled cheese to Aiden and poured him a glass of milk. He then sat beside him on the other stool while he ate.

"So, I've been wondering," Aiden stated after taking a few bites, "if you hate it so much here, why did you come in the first place? And why do you stay?"

Drew paused a moment, needing to think about how he answered. The truthful answer was because the university he attended had the best law enforcement program around and enabled him to start an internship with the city's police department. He also needed to remain here until he graduated in a few more months to ensure he could keep his job on the force. But he couldn't tell Aiden that.

"Well, I guess when I graduated high school I wanted to try something different. Nothing exciting ever happens where I'm from - it's pretty dull and boring. So I figured, why not? There's a lot of colleges in the area and more opportunity for work so, it just made sense."

Aiden nodded and downed some of his milk. "What do you do for work anyway? You never really told me."

Drew sucked in his breath for a moment at the question, but he had known it would be coming eventually and had already rehearsed a generic enough answer that he hoped would satisfy Aiden. "Oh, it's pretty boring. I work in an office. I enter data on a computer all day inside my little cubicle. But it's a paycheck, right?"

Aiden nodded and gauged Drew's face so see if he would be receptive to some more personal questions. "So um, did your ex live here in this apartment with you?"

"Yeah, yeah he did. Up until...well, up until I threw his cheating ass out," Drew laughed uncomfortably. "We lived together here for about one year."

"Wow. That's a long time," Aiden stated.

"Uh huh. It is. I wasted a lot of time on him." Drew then fell silent, as if in deep thought.

"I'm sorry that he hurt you. You didn't deserve that," Aiden stated softly after a moment. "You'll find the right person someday. Maybe somebody right under your nose, you know?" he smiled suggestively.

Drew grinned and sighed, "Yeah, I suppose," fully picking up on the double-ended meaning of Aiden's comment, but pretending he hadn't. He brought Aiden's plate and glass to the sink, but as he turned back around, he noticed something odd about Aiden's left cheek. With Aiden's hair now pushed back and away from his face, as well as now being in a well-lit room, Drew could see that his cheek was quite red and flushed.

Drew reached out to inspect it with his hand, causing Aiden to pull back. "What's wrong with your cheek?" Drew asked. "I didn't notice it back at the club. I guess it was too dark in there to see."

"It's nothing," Aiden mumbled under his breath as he took his hand and brushed his hair toward the front to conceal the red mark.

"Really? Because it doesn't look like nothing," Drew pried. "Honestly, if you ask me, it looks like a hand mark. Kind of like somebody slapped you." He wondered if Aiden's frightened posture when Lenny approached him at the club tonight was due to his being struck earlier in the evening. "Is that what happened Aiden? Did somebody slap you?"

Aiden remained silent and avoided eye contact, simply staring down at the floor. Not wanting to make him anymore uncomfortable, and knowing Aiden wasn't going to disclose anything, Drew let it slide for the moment and suggested that they retire to the living room.

They settled in on the couch and Drew handed the TV remote over to Aiden, who seemed to enjoy going through the hundreds of television channels just as much as he liked exploring the car radio. Eventually he picked a movie to watch and the two watched it in relative silence. Out of the corner of his eye, Drew could see that Aiden had pulled his knees up close to his chest, had wrapped his arms around his legs, and was resting his chin on his knees as he watched the TV. Drew had to smile to himself at the child-like position and how intent he was as he watched the movie.

Wondering if Aiden might be cold, Drew reached behind his head and pulled down the throw blanket that he kept on the back of the couch. He unfolded it and threw half of it across Aiden, who happily grabbed at it and pulled it up under his chin. He then shimmied himself a little closer to Drew on the couch so that they were now touching.

Drew pretended not to notice, but inwardly he felt that familiar flutter in his stomach that he would get when attracted to somebody. Aiden leaned in a bit more and rested his head on Drew's chest. Drew repositioned his arm and placed it gently around Aiden's shoulder as they continued to watch the movie. He found himself quite drawn to Aiden. There was something very special about him. Sure he was good-looking, but it went beyond that. He almost felt if he had met Aiden under different circumstances, perhaps they might have had a chance with each other. But unfortunately, that could never be.

As the movie ended, Aiden turned his face up to look at Drew. He had such large and beautiful blue eyes that Drew found himself lost in them temporarily. So much so that he didn't even pull away when Aiden made the first move and kissed him.

Instead, Drew found himself leaning in to the kiss, knowing that he shouldn't, but wanting to so badly. He was feeling something for Aiden and he couldn't deny it. He placed his hand on Aiden's face as he explored the younger's warm mouth and tongue. Drew pulled him in closely with his other arm, allowing himself to forget who he was and why Aiden was here in the first place. But it had been months since he had been intimate with anybody and his body ached for that human sexual contact that he had been deprived of for so long. He allowed his hands to travel up and down Aiden's back and sides, slipping it up underneath the T-shirt so that he could run his fingers across his bare skin.

Aiden allowed himself to be pulled in tightly, inwardly relishing the strong and firm grip Drew had on him. Drew was everything he could have ever wished for in a man - handsome, intelligent, confident, kind. He wanted nothing more than for Drew to make him his own, and could easily see himself belonging to him.

Not removing his lips from Drew's, Aiden crawled up and over so that he was sitting in Drew's lap and facing him. He wrapped his arms tightly around Drew's neck and felt the other's hands travel up and down his back until they eventually reached his ass, where they remained, keeping a firm grip on him.

Through the thin fabric of Aiden's pajama pants, Drew could feel a hardness growing. And while Drew's jeans did a better job of concealing his own arousal, there was no denying that they were both very much attracted to each other. Aiden clearly knew what he was doing, and with each grind and hump he produced, Drew found himself getting lost deeper and deeper in the moment.

As their hands explored each other, Drew completely forgot that he was crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed. The only thing he could focus on was how amazing it felt to have somebody giving him the physical love and affection that he never quite got in his last relationship. Aiden's body responded to every touch and stroke in such a positive way that Drew knew in no uncertain terms that the other wanted him.

Minutes wore on and it wasn't until Drew felt Aiden's hand reach down and firmly grab his crotch that he was immediately snapped back into reality. He grabbed Aiden by the wrist and moved his hand away abruptly.

Surprised by the sudden halt, Aiden looked up at him confused. "What did I do wrong? You said you liked me."

"I'm so sorry, I...I can't do this. I was....it was wrong to kiss you," Drew stammered apologetically as he stood up from the couch and began to pace back and forth. "I told you nothing was going to happen tonight, and I meant it. This has nothing to do with you Aiden - it's me. I can't explain it all to you right now. It's just...I guess it's just not the right time, that's all. I'm sorry."

Aiden blinked a few times, completely blindsided by the rejection after what seemed like mutual foreplay to him.

Drew continued in a remorseful voice, knowing he had greatly disappointed Aiden. "I didn't bring you here tonight to get laid. I honestly thought that if I got you away from that shithole, that maybe you'd realize that you don't have to go back."

"But I _do_ have to go back. It's my job," Aiden mumbled, annoyed and hurt at the entire situation.

"No, Aiden. You _don't_ have to. There are other jobs out there, other ways of making a living. Lenny isn't doing you any favors, don't you see that? He's using you and the other boys to make himself rich while you're all barely scraping by! And from the look of your face, he doesn’t mind raising a hand to keep you in line either!"

"Look, I didn't graduate high school, Drew!" Aiden shot back. "I didn't go to a fancy college like you! I don't have a family at home to help me. I don't have any other options!" Aiden choked on his last words, clearly very upset. Drew decided to drop it for the time being. Yet again, things hadn't gone the way he had planned, but maybe if Aiden slept on the idea he would change his mind by morning.

"Okay, okay. Just calm down, all right?," Drew stated in a soft voice, hoping to break the tension that he knew he himself had caused. "How 'bout we just go to bed now, okay? It's getting late anyway."

"Okay. I'll sleep here on the couch," Aiden stated in a small voice, frustrated and disappointed with how the evening had gone. Why couldn't anything ever go right for him, he wondered.

"No, you can sleep in the bed with me. It's fine - it's a big bed with plenty of room for both of us. Come on."

Reluctantly, Aiden followed him upstairs and, after asking for a spare toothbrush to use, jumped into the large bed. Drew was right - it was plenty big for two people and much more comfortable than anything he had ever slept on in his entire life.

Drew then took his own turn in the bathroom. He splashed some ice cold water on his face and looked into the mirror. _'You stupid idiot!'_ he thought to himself as he scowled at his reflection. _'What the hell were you thinking? Get it together!'_

Drew patted his face dry, turned off the bedroom light and climbed into bed. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his fingers to relieve the stress he felt building. He knew his emotions were getting the better of him and that it was going to make things much more difficult. All he had wanted to do tonight was ease his own guilt of having used Aiden for information - and yet somehow he had managed to get just moments away from fucking him. How could he have let that happen? Why did he feel so attracted to this kid from the wrong side of the tracks anyway? The line between work and pleasure had become blurred somewhere along the way and he needed to fix that.

Aiden rolled onto his side with a huff, facing away from Drew. He was pissed off and hurt, both at the same time. Feeling a bit cold, he tugged at the covers a few times until he had pulled them almost completely off of Drew. Drew didn't say anything; it was the least he deserved. He wasn't cold anyway.

Having all the blankets to himself, Aiden then brooded for a few minutes as he tried to fall asleep. As much as he was annoyed at Drew, he couldn’t stay mad at him for long. Drew obviously had a lot going on in his life and probably wasn't even over his old boyfriend. So he decided to give him a pass for the huge let-down tonight. Because aside from that, Drew had been the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Feeling a bit less mad now, Aiden scooted himself back a few inches until his back was touching Drew's body. He then reached behind him and grasped Drew's arm, attempting to pull it over his body.

"You want me to put my arm around you?" Drew asked softly.

"Uh-huh."

Drew rolled to his side and tucked his arm tightly around Aiden's body and pulled himself in closer so that he was spooning him. The smell of Aiden's freshly washed hair was at his nose and the warmth from his body was calming. He felt Aiden's body relax and within a few minutes he could tell that he had fallen asleep. It saddened Drew knowing that had the timing and place been different, he and Aiden might have had a real chance together.

Drew closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep, hoping and praying that by morning Aiden would change his mind about returning to The Cage.


	7. Its A Little Complicated

Aiden stretched and yawned as he blinked his eyes open. It took him a moment to register where he was. Drew's apartment - that's right. He looked to his side, but the bed was empty aside from him. He could smell the distinct aroma of bacon cooking downstairs.

Aiden yawned again, pulled the covers up under his chin and turned onto his side. This bed was far too comfortable and warm to get out of just yet and so he decided to take a few more minutes before rising. Recollections from the night before began to replay in his head. He frowned to himself as he remembered Drew's sudden rejection on the couch and wondered what had truly caused it. Was Drew just not that into him? Or was he still hung up on his ex? It was obvious that Drew had been hurt pretty badly by him. Maybe Drew had just put up his defenses because of that? Aiden wasn't sure, but he hoped it was just a temporary problem because he really liked Drew.

As Aiden laid in bed and studied the different objects in the bedroom, he noticed the nightstand a few inches away and wondered what Drew kept in the top drawer. Condoms perhaps? It would be a perfect drawer for that. Or maybe some old photos of his ex? Being curious, Aiden reached out to open the drawer, but discovered it was locked. He found it a bit odd to lock a drawer, but maybe Drew kept money or his checkbook in there and was just being extra careful in case his apartment got robbed. Still, the fact that Drew had a locked drawer seemed a little strange to him. He was clearly hiding something inside of it.

With the smell of bacon now driving him crazy, Aiden reluctantly climbed out of the warm bed and headed downstairs to find Drew cooking breakfast in the kitchen.

"Oh good, you're up," Drew said cheerfully as he saw Aiden enter and sit at the island counter. "I wanted to let you sleep in. You like scrambled eggs and bacon I hope?"

Aide smiled and nodded his head. Bacon wasn't something he was lucky enough to have very often, so this was a special treat for him.

Drew handed him a plate and the two ate in relative silence. There was a definite awkwardness lingering from last night, but neither one of them wanted to bring it up.

In an attempt to break the uncomfortable silence, Aiden eventually asked "Do you know the drawer on your nightstand doesn't open?"

Drew's eyebrows raised in surprise at the question. He was thankful he had had the foresight to have locked it last night. "Really? Well, that's because I keep it locked. I'm assuming you tried to open it?"

Aiden looked a bit embarrassed and replied, "Well, yeah. I was being nosy and I was wondering if you had stuff in there from your old boyfriend. Like photos or something?"

Drew cleared his throat and prepared to simply go along with Aiden's train of thought. "Um...yeah. That's what in there. Photos of my ex. I'll have to clean it all out one of these days and throw it all away I guess."

"Can I see one? A photo? I just want to know what he looks like."

"You want to see a photo of my old boyfriend?" Drew asked slightly caught off guard.

Aiden nodded his head and Drew sighed uncomfortably as he pulled out his cell phone. He opened up one of his social media pages and scrolled back a few months in time until he came upon a photo. He held the phone up for Aiden to look at.

Aiden took the phone and examined the picture. Drew's ex was quite good looking. Maybe not as handsome as Drew, but very close. He looked to be a few years older than Drew with dark wavy hair and a scruffy 5 o'clock shadow look going on. Inwardly, Aiden felt that perhaps last night's rejection had more to do with this person from Drew's past. They had only broken up a few months ago and it would make sense if Drew wasn't over him just yet. Even though Aiden himself had never had a long-term committed relationship, he could understand the difficulty of getting over someone and moving on.

"Ummm...what's his name?" Aiden asked.

"Bryan."

As Aiden continue to study the photo he knew couldn't compete with somebody older and more mature like Bryan anyway. The man probably had a great job and a fancy car. What did Aiden have to offer anybody? Nothing.

"He's very handsome," Aiden stated in a defeated voice as he handed the phone back.

"On the outside perhaps," Drew stated. "But on the inside he's completely ugly. I guess that's why they say you can't judge a book by its cover."

"Do you miss him?" Aiden asked softly.

Drew smiled at the question, knowing that Aiden appeared to have some genuine feelings for him. "No. I don't miss him. I miss what we had when things were good. But no - I don't miss him at all."

"So, if he came back around...apologized and stuff...you wouldn't want to get back together with him?" Aiden pried.

"I would _never_ go back to him. Not even if he got down on his knees and begged me," Drew laughed lightly. "Once you lose complete trust in somebody, you can never get it back again."

Aiden smiled brightly, happy to hear that Drew had put that relationship in the past, and grabbed a few more slices of bacon off the platter in front of him.

Since waking up this morning Drew had been waiting to ask Aiden if he had changed his mind about going back to The Cage, but was afraid of the answer he knew he was going to get. He pushed his eggs around on his plate for a bit and then decided to bring the topic up again and say what was on his mind.

"You know Aiden, there's a shelter downtown that does a lot of good work for people who need it. They have a GED program, housing help, things like that. It's all there and waiting...you just have to be willing to ask."

"I know what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it, but I can't," Aiden stated as he placed his fork down. "All my friends are back at the club. I know it's not a great job and maybe Lenny doesn't treat us very good, but it's what I have right now. I need to be with my friends because..." He paused as he tried to find the words. "...because they're all I have. They're my family."

Drew nodded sadly. And while he wasn't happy that Aiden was insisting on returning, he completely understood why. Aiden had a support system there, no matter how small, and he wasn't willing to give that up.

"Okay. I understand. Just let me just clean up these dishes and I'll drive you back, okay?" Drew stated with a touch of disappointment.

Aiden stood up from the stool and looked down at what he had worn to bed the night before. "Um, Drew? Can I wear your clothes home? All I have is my waiter uniform to put back on."

"Sure. And you can keep them if you want. I don't need them back."

Aiden smiled, happy to be able to hold onto a few articles of Drew's as his own. They smelled like Drew and even though they were a bit large, they would be nice to wear at home as a reminder of him. He ran upstairs to Drew's bedroom to put his shoes on and grabbed his bow-tie and black leather shorts to bring back home for work.

As they headed out to the car, Drew stopped short at the doorway. "I forgot something. I'll be right back. Just hop in the car and I'll be right there."

Aiden continued on to the car and within two minutes Drew returned and tossed a bag into the back seat. The drive back to Aiden's apartment ended up being a rather silent one, with Aiden not even caring to play with the radio this time. Drew dreaded every second as they got closer to Lenny's apartment. He couldn't force Aiden not to go back, but he had hoped he wouldn't be needing to make this return trip.

Drew pulled up to the curb in front of Lenny's old and dilapidated apartment building. "Are you absolutely sure you want to go back? You don't have to - I can help you get out of this if you want to."

Aiden smiled. "You're really nice and I appreciate you wanting to help me. But this is all I know and for right now, I have to stay here with my friends."

Disappointed, but not surprised, Drew reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone and handed it to him. "Well then, I want you to take this."

"A cell phone?" Aiden asked in surprise.

"I just upgraded mine a few weeks ago. This is my old one. So you take this - use it as lifeline to reach out for help if you ever need it because...because I won't be coming back."

Aiden's face fell with sadness. "Not ever? Why?"

Drew shook his head in the negative. "It's a little complicated. Actually it's a _lot_ complicated. I wish I could explain everything to you, but I can't. At least not right now. But I put my phone number in here in case you ever need me, okay?"

Aiden nodded sadly as he took the phone. He wasn't sure what to make of Drew anymore. Between the mixed signals Drew gave him and his being secretive and walled off, perhaps it was all for the best to just end things where they were. Life was hard enough without trying to constantly figure somebody out and feeling that they were keeping something from you. He had no idea where he really stood with Drew, so maybe this was a sign that things just weren't meant to be.

"Oh, and take this too," Drew stated as he reached into the back seat and pulled a bag into the front. Inside the bag was a light blue throw blanket with little snowmen and snowflakes on it, still in its original packaging, as well as a pillow he had removed from his bed. "I thought you could use these. My mom gave me the blanket as a Christmas gift last year and I never even opened it. And I don't really need four pillows on my bed," he smiled. "So take these, please?"

Humiliated, although appreciative at the same time, Aiden accepted the much needed items. They would certainly make sleeping on the floor a bit more comfortable. "Thanks. Thanks for everything, Drew," he stated softly and disheartened. "I'm really gonna miss you."

Drew gave him a sad smile as he swallowed hard. "Yeah, I'm gonna miss you too."

It felt absolutely awful that he couldn't move forward with Aiden, but Drew had already blurred the lines of work and private life and couldn't risk anything further happening. He knew if he continued seeing Aiden they would end up in bed together - there was simply no denying it. He felt an attraction to Aiden that could be very dangerous if his true identity were discovered.

Aiden then stepped out of the car and walked toward the building, holding the bag of items Drew had given him. Drew sat in his car and watched. A part of him wanted to call Aiden back, while the other part knew that it had to be this way.


	8. Not What It Looks Like

Mike ordered two beers as he and Drew sat down at the bar of a local sports pub they would sometimes frequent after work. "Yeah! The football game is on!" Mike stated happily as he nudged Drew in the arm to draw his attention to the large TV hanging up above the bar for customers to watch.

Drew sat silently beside him, his hands covering his face as he rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He couldn’t care less about the football game. He had far too many other things on his mind at the moment.

"Why is this case taking so long, Mike?" he asked with annoyance. "Why does everything move so fucking slowly? How much more evidence do they need to get a search warrant?"

"Look. It's just the way it is. And there's nothing you can do to hurry it up, so lighten up!" Mike stated as the bartender placed their beers down in front of them. "Have a beer and relax! It's our night off for crying out loud - put work out of your mind for once."

Drew took a sip of his beer and continued to brood as Mike watched the game. It had been about a week since he had seen Aiden last, and that combined with what seemed like the department dragging their feet on an arrest for Lenny had been draining him.

"Drew? Is that you?" a voice spoke from behind.

Drew turned around to see none other than old boyfriend standing there before him, a smirk on his smug face. Deciding to simply ignore him, Drew turned back around with a roll of his eyes, not having any desire to engage.

"Funny seeing you here," the man continued as he positioned himself beside Drew to make eye contact. "I thought you'd be out saving the world from bad guys and doing all that good-doer stuff," he laughed out loud.

"Look Bryan, I'm not in the mood. It's been a long week and..."

"Oh hey, I get it - no worries. I'm sure wanting to save the world takes its toll on a guy by the end of the week," Bryan stated condescendingly. "I just wanted to say hi. So, you seeing anybody Drew?" he asked as he looked questioningly at Mike, having never met his partner before.

"Oh shit, no! Not me!" Mike laughed quickly and shook his head to indicate he wasn't with Drew in that way. "We're just friends!"

"Nah, I'm not seeing anybody," Drew quipped and turned his attention to the football game, hoping the short answer would get Bryan to move along.

Not taking the hint, Bryan carried on. "Really? 'Cuz I could have sworn I saw you at that dive club the other night. And it looked like you had it bad for that little blond dancer. What's his name again...Adam? Aaron? No, no, that's not it," he taunted.

Drew quickly swiveled around on the stool to face him. "What the hell are you talking about? How do you know where I've been? Have you been following me?"

"Whoa, calm down! I'm not stalking you, believe me! I've moved on," Bryan replied as he gestured to a booth in the corner where a 20-something year old man was seated and waiting for him to return. "Me and a friend just happened to be at The Cage the other night and I happened to notice you. You never saw me, huh?" he asked again.

"No. I tend not to notice things that are unimportant," Drew stated dryly.

"Well, you were definitely preoccupied, I'll give you that. You seemed pretty smitten with that little whore."

Drew bit his tongue, knowing the comment was made only to agitate him. The last thing he wanted to do was let on that Bryan had gotten under his skin. Better to just ignore the comment...and Bryan.

Just then the two swinging doors the lead to the kitchen area opened up. Bryan's eyes opened wide at the sight of who he saw exiting them. "Well, speak of the Devil!," he laughed. "I guess they let the little slut out of his cage tonight!"

Following Bryan's gaze, Drew looked up and saw Aiden and Jimmy coming out of the pub's kitchen area. Jimmy was holding two large clear plastic bags, each one containing about a dozen sandwich rolls. Upon seeing Drew, Aiden smiled brightly and waved at him and Mike.

Taken off guard, Drew stood up from his stool and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well, Jimmy knows the cook here," Aiden answered. "Once the sandwich rolls are over two days old they have to throw them out. So instead of throwing them in the trash, he gives them to us."

"And then we bring them home and give them Nick," Jimmy piped in. "He makes the best French toast out of them."

"Or sometimes he makes garlic bread with them," Aiden chirped. "He does something different all the time. But they never go to waste, that's for sure," he smiled.

Bryan snorted and rolled his eyes. "So you guys eat food that's designated for a trash barrel, and you're proud of that?"

As Aiden turned to look at Bryan, he immediately recognized him from the photo Drew had shown him last week on his cell phone. He looked from Drew to Bryan, and then back to Drew trying to figure out what was going on.

"Yeah, well, some of us can't afford to be wasteful," Jimmy retorted as he glared at the well-dressed and arrogant stranger wearing a tailored suit and gold watch.

"Um...let's just go, Jimmy. Okay?" Aiden stated softly with his head down, feeling embarrassed. He had had his suspicions about why Drew was so stand-offish and secretive and it seemed like he had his answer now.

Drew found himself now in an awkward position. He had to be very careful how he spoke to Aiden in front of Mike and Bryan. But he also knew by Aiden's face that he was hurt and assumed that Drew had come with Bryan. "Hey Aiden? This isn't at all what it looks like."

Fully picking up on the vibe, Bryan threw his arm tightly around Drew's shoulder and squeezed it. "Of course it is! This is _exactly_ what it looks like! Everybody here knows you can't get enough of me, isn't that right, baby?" he laughed as Drew physically pushed him off in anger.

Heartbroken and confused, Aiden looked back down at the ground and bit his lip. It looked like he had been right along. Drew was never into him to begin with. How could he have been so stupid to have ever thought that he might be?

"Come on, let's get out of here," Jimmy stated. He put his hand on Aiden's back and guided him to the front door of the pub when Bryan murmured the words "Friggen whore" under his breath, but just loud enough so Aiden could hear.

Drew noticed the visible quiver that rolled through Aiden's shoulders at the sting of those words, but he never turned back as he left the pub.

Drew's eyes narrowed as he glared at Bryan. "Don't you ever call him that again! You don't even know him!"

"True, very true. I don't know him. But I _do_ know that for $40 I could get to know him a whole lot better. Isn't that right, Drew?," Bryan sneered. "Isn't that one of his jobs at The Cage? To go into private rooms and satisfy the customers?"

Drew felt his fists turn into balls and his blood pressure rise. Mike immediately stood up from his stool and positioned himself close to Drew, knowing that something was going to go down between the two. "How 'bout we just all calm down and forget about..." he began, but was cut off midsentence.

"I wonder if that little blond is a good fuck?" Bryan continued. "I'll have to swing by there again and see for myself. I'll be sure to let you know what my verdict is afterward," he sneered.

"So help me God, Bryan. Stay the hell away from him! He's just a poor kid trying to get by!"

"My God - you've sunk so low since I dumped you!" Bryan laughed. "He's just a slut, Drew!"

That being the last straw, Drew felt himself snap. He sprung forward and grabbed Bryan by the throat, pushing him forcefully up against the wall. "You go anywhere fucking near him and I swear to God I'll kill you!" he screamed into Bryan's face while choking him.

Bryan's face reddened from the hold Drew had on his neck. He rasped "Typical police brutality!" in a mocking tone, not willing to give Drew the satisfaction that he was beginning to struggle to breathe.

Mike quickly jumped in and pulled Drew off before they drew anymore attention. "Come on, Drew. Forget it - he's not worth your time. Let's go before the bartender calls the cops on us...'cuz that would be ironic wouldn't it?" he chuckled nervously trying to calm Drew down.

Having released his hold on Bryan's neck, Drew then stepped back in as close to him as he could get until they were almost nose-to-nose. He stared hard into his eyes and without flinching said "Mike's right. You're not worth my time. But let's get one thing straight. In case you don't recall, I dumped YOU you lying, cheating, arrogant piece of shit! Or have you already forgotten finding all your clothes on my front lawn?!"

Bryan's smirk faded, but he said nothing more. He had gotten under Drew's skin, and that's all he cared about.

"Okay, let's go. Right now," Mike stated and grabbed Drew by the collarbone and escorted him out into the parking lot so he could get some air and calm himself. Once outside, Drew began to pace up and down the rows of cars, taking deep breaths in an attempt to regain his composure.

Leaning up against his own car as he watched his partner pace, Mike stated, "Look, I get it! I've got ex's that still get a rise out of me too when I run into them." He paused and then smiled to himself before continuing. "Except my ex's are all females," he laughed out loud trying to break the tension.

Drew continue to fume and breathe deeply as he marched about the parking lot, disappointed that Aiden had walked away with the wrong impression and was probably quite hurt. _'What in the name of God did I ever see in that asshole Bryan anyway?'_ he thought to himself. Bryan was such an arrogant prick and always had been, but for whatever reason Drew had brushed it aside and just chalked it up to his 'unique' personality. He had made so many excuses over the two years they were dating, blindly unwilling to see that Bryan was taking every opportunity to cheat on him behind his back. Hindsight was always 20/20 and he had definitely had his blinders on during the entire relationship. He had been such a fool. And the most ironic part of it all was that now he had actually found somebody he cared about, he couldn't move ahead with it.

Just the thought of the whole situation only served to enrage Drew even more as he contrasted the likes of Bryan with Aiden. In Aiden he had found everything he seemed to be looking for - somebody honest and kind, not caught up in money or stature. And yet he wasn't able to be with Aiden because of his job and the case going on right now.

As his internal frustration began to bubble over, Drew balled his fists up and let out a loud scream into the night sky to release his pent up tension.

Mike studied his younger partner's behavior closely. He had gotten to know Drew pretty well over the last few months and he had never seen him this upset or involved with any case so far.

"Hey uh, you do seem to be a bit overly sensitive about what your ex said about that dancer," Mike prodded. "There's nothing more to it than you're telling me, is there? You don't have feelings for that kid, do you? Because that wouldn't be good, Drew. You know that," he warned.

Drew turned and looked at his partner and friend, his face tired and wrought with frustration. He avoided answering the questions posed specifically. "This case just needs to come to a close, Mike. It's eating away at me, day by day. Each day that goes by is another day that Aiden is being used, abused and mistreated. And the same goes for all those other boys. And all the while, Lenny's still walking the streets, living like a king, and breaking the law. WHY?!"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that, Drew. I don't know. All I know is that life ain't fair."

"You can say that again," Drew mumbled under his breath.

"Why don't I drive you home now, okay? It's been a long night," Mike offered.

As the two entered Mike's car and began their ride home, several blocks away Aiden had just arrived home himself. He made a beeline to the back bedroom, quickly bypassing everybody in the apartment and not wanting to speak to anyone. He laid down on his tattered comforter and placed his head on the pillow Drew had given him. He then pulled the soft blue snowman blanket up over his head so that nobody would see the tears.


	9. The Phone Call

_~One month later~_

Drew sat down at his desk in the downtown police precinct and took a sip of his morning coffee before reading through the case file that had just hit his desk. He only needed to scan the first few sentences to know that this was the news he had been waiting for.

"Yes! We got him!!" Drew shouted excitedly as he threw a victorious fist pump into the air.

"Don't get too excited," Mike replied from his own desk just a few feet away. "I read the report too. We were only able to get Lenny on tax evasion. He basically pulled an Al Capone on us - nothing sticks on that guy," he chuckled. "More likely than not he'll be out of jail in 30 days on bail. And as long as he sets up a repayment schedule of his taxes and pays his fine, he probably won't get anything more than that. So he won't be away for too long."

Drew sighed in frustration. They had so many leads on Lenny, and yet the only one that had stuck so far was the tax issue.

"It's just so aggravating," Drew sighed. "All those boys that work there...they have no voice. They're not being paid right, their living conditions are worse than an animals, and some of them are being pimped out. There's gotta be more that we can do for them."

Mike spun around in his chair to face him, his brow firmly set and his arms crossed against his chest as he leaned back. "Look Drew. The first rule around here is not to get emotionally involved. We can't save everybody. It would be great if we could, but it's just not realistic. We do the best we can, and at the end of the day you have to learn to go home and forget about it...and _him_." 

Drew side-glanced uncomfortably at his partner upon hearing the tone of his last word. His personal feelings for Aiden clearly hadn't gone unnoticed by Mike.

"You weren't in that apartment, Mike, but I was! They have no heat or hot water, barely enough food, broken windows, and it's crawling with mice and roaches. And they all just sleep on the floor! It's awful, Mike! The city's prison cells are cleaner than that dump!" Drew shouted. He then took a deep breath and continued on in a softer voice. "And it's not just _him_ , Mike. I care about _all_ those boys." 

Mike cocked his head to the side. "I know you do, Drew. You're a good guy - you really are. But you've gotten way too involved. You have to stay detached or you'll go crazy. You can clean up one corner of this city and haul the riff-raff off to the jail, and tomorrow it will just spring up somewhere else. For every Lenny you put in jail, there are 10 more on the outside ready to pick up where he left off."

Drew gritted his teeth as he listened. He knew Mike was right, but he didn't have to like it.

"This city is uncaring, Drew," Mike carried on. "It eats you up and spits you back out. Those kids are street kids and they probably always will be," he stated matter-of-factly.

"So we do what, Mike? Turn a blind eye? Just let them sink and eventually drown is this friggin' abyss of a city?" Drew snarled back.

Mike smiled at his young partner's enthusiasm. He remembered feeling the same way 10 years earlier, but years of seeing little change had caused his enthusiasm to dwindle. "You're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. There's no magic wand or fairy dust you can sprinkle around to make all the bad and evil go away. This is real life. And the sooner you accept that, the better."

Drew turned his attention back to the case file in front of him. He scowled to himself knowing that Lenny would probably be out of jail in a month's time, just as Mike said. There had to be something they were missing. He knew he couldn't save the world, much less this city, but he wanted to at least save Aiden. Even if that was all he accomplished, that would be something.

Drew felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out to see that it was Aiden calling. He felt a slight skip in his heart. He hadn't seen or talked to Aiden in over a month, with the last time being incredibly uncomfortable due to Bryan.

"Hey, Aiden. What's up?" he cheerfully answered the call.

But the voice on the other end of the line wasn't Aiden's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I normally only manage to post one chapter a week, but this one is very short so I will post the next chapter (also short) by tomorrow.


	10. More Than Just A Coincidence

"Whoa, whoa, slow down - I can't understand you. Is this Jimmy?" Drew strained to hear what the panicked and frightened voice on the other end of the line was saying. 

"Yes! It's Jimmy! Something happened to Aiden! We found him in the alley behind the club...he's...he's all fucked up!"

Drew bolted out of his chair to a standing position so fast that Mike spun around at his desk to see what was wrong. 

Jimmy continued to speak at a fast-pace. "Aiden never came home last night after work, so Nick and I went out to look for him this morning and...and..."

"And what?!" Drew barked impatiently, desperate to know what had happened. 

Drew could hear Jimmy took a deep breath in an attempt to compose himself. "And we found him in the alley! He's all beat up! He's hurt really bad! We don't know what to do!"

"You stay right there with him," Drew instructed. "I'll call for an ambulance and I'll be there in less than five minutes. You stay with him until I get there, do you understand, Jimmy?!" 

Drew hung up, put in a quick call to 911 for an ambulance to be sent, then grabbed the keys to his car and flew out the door of the precinct. Had he taken his police car he could have put the siren on and gotten there quicker, but then his cover would be completely blown, if it wasn't already. He wondered if Lenny had figured out who he was and had ordered somebody to rough Aiden up for saying too much. It was possible - anything was possible. 

Upon arriving at the scene, Drew threw his car into park and ran down the alley where he found Nick kneeling on the ground and holding Aiden's head in his lap. Jimmy was pacing back and forth looking frightened and several other concerned boys from the apartment were milling about as well. 

As Drew knelt down beside Aiden he attempted to hold back an audible gasp from escaping his lips. Both of Aiden's eyes were swollen shut, his lip was split and he had a gash to his head that had clearly been bleeding for some time now, judging by the pool of blood on the ground. Nick had taken his shirt off and was pressing it against Aiden's head to help control the bleeding. He had probably been in the alley for a few hours, Drew judged. 

"Is he gonna be all right?" Jimmy asked in a tremulous voice. 

Drew put his ear close to Aiden's mouth and checked his pulse. He was breathing, but it was shallow and labored. 

"Yeah, yeah, Jimmy. He's gonna be okay. Don't worry. The ambulance will be here any minute. Anybody know what happened?" 

Still holding Aiden head in his lap, Nick lifted his head to speak. "Well, clearly somebody's sending him a message, don't you think?" The tone of his voice was cool and the look he gave Drew suggested that he might be on to him, even if none of the other boys were. "I mean, Lenny gets hauled off to jail last night and then Aiden gets beat up a few hours later. Seems too much to be a coincidence, don't you think?" Nick asked rhetorically while looking at Drew. "Almost like somebody's trying to keep Aiden quiet, right?" 

Caught off guard by Nick's comment, Drew swallowed hard and remained silent. The siren of the ambulance approached and he and Nick rose and stepped back to allow the EMTs to do their job and secure Aiden onto a stretcher. The EMTs then quickly placed him into the ambulance and left. 

"I'm going to follow them to the hospital. I'll call Aiden's phone to let you guys know how he is when I'm able to," Drew stated to Aiden's friends and co-workers as he dashed back to his car. 

Nick stood in the alley, his hands and jeans spattered with Aiden's blood, and watched as Drew pulled away in his car to follow the ambulance. Something wasn't adding up. Drew comes in out of nowhere, takes Aiden out a few times, plays with the poor kids emotions and leaves him heartbroken. That was bad enough. But then Lenny gets arrested and dragged off to jail for the first time ever, and just hours later Aiden is found beaten to within an inch of his life. Nick didn't think any of it was a coincidence. Something definitely wasn't adding up; he just didn't know exactly what it was yet.


	11. "I'm So Sorry"

Drew sat alone in the waiting room of the hospital for what seemed like an eternity. His leg bounced up and down nervously as he watched the clock on the wall slowly tick off the minutes. He felt like he was going to burst if an update on Aiden didn't come soon. He knew they had to run tests and x-rays and stitch him back up, but the waiting was taking its toll on him.

While he waited for news, Drew's mind raced through the last couple of months, including all the things he had done wrong in that time. He had definitely gotten himself too emotionally involved - Mike was right about that. But how could he help it? You can't help who you develop feelings for - it just happens. And God knows it happened in a major way with Aiden.

After a few hours of being in the waiting room, Drew was eventually approached by a nurse who informed him that Aiden had been moved into the Intensive Care Unit to be monitored. She gave him the room number and permission to head down to finally see him.

Drew walked at a brisk pace down the hospital hallway until he located the correct number, but upon entering the room he stopped short. He covered his mouth with his hand and audibly gasped at the badly beaten and fragile looking body in the bed. Aiden looked worse than he did in the alleyway, if that was even possible. His face was partially concealed with an oxygen mask, but it appeared to be even more swollen and bruised than before. There was a large amount of gauze and bandaging around his head wound. His shirt had been removed and Drew could see the bandages circling his rib cage and chest. There were multiple wounds, cuts and large bruises going up and down Aiden's arms and shoulders. Drew assumed the lower half of his body was just as badly beaten, but gratefully the sheet didn't allow him to see any of that.

Drew felt a wave of nausea overtake him and dashed into the bathroom just in time. He splashed some water on his face and took a few seconds to steady himself. He then stepped outside of the hospital room and grabbed the first doctor he laid eyes on. "Please! Can you tell me what's going on? He's gonna be okay, isn't he?"

"Are you a family member?" the doctor asked.

"He doesn't have any family. I'm the closest thing he has."

"Well, all right then," the doctor continued. "Unfortunately, we won't know exactly what happened until he regains consciousness and can talk to us, but he's clearly been beaten very badly - to within an inch of his life I would say. He lost a tremendous amount of blood and he's extremely lucky somebody found him when they did. Another hour or two in that alley and he might not have made it at all."

Drew swallowed hard at those words.

"He has some broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, a collapsed lung and a concussion. We put quite a few stitches in to close the gash on his head. From the looks of it, he was beaten with something other than just fists. A bat or a lead pipe maybe? Something quite hard at the very least. He has defense bruises on his arms where he was probably trying to protect his head. He also has some very large bruises on his back that indicate he was probably being kicked. I've seen bruises similar to those before and they look to be from someone wearing steel toed boots. But again, we'll have to wait and see what he can tell us as there seem to have been no witnesses."

 _Steel toed boots...steel toed boots._ Drew's mind began to race. One of the bouncers at the club always wore steel toed boots - the one who manned the hallway that lead to the private rooms - the one that he paid $40 to the very first night he went to the club. Pieces of the puzzle began to lock into place in Drew's mind. If Lenny had figured out who he was, he could have easily gotten word to one of his goons to put a hit on Aiden, even from jail.

Drew took a deep breath and thanked the doctor. He put in a quick call to Nick and the boys to let them know Aiden's condition as he had promised. He then reentered the room and grabbed a chair so he could sit by Aiden's bedside. He felt himself becoming queasy yet again. All of this was HIS fault. He had gotten himself too personally involved and in doing so, he had put Aiden's life in danger. He never meant for any of this to happen. Having Lenny behind bars wasn't worth Aiden's life.

Drew's cell phone rang. He answered it quickly, seeing that it was Mike calling. "Hey, Mike."

"Hey, how's it going? How's the kid doing?" Mike asked.

"Not so good. You got anything on your end?"

"Well, we tried talking to the boys at The Cage," Mike stated. "They didn't know much. But even if they DID they probably would've been too afraid to say anything. We talked to the bartender and the bouncer that were on duty, but nobody claims to have seen anything. BUT..."

"But what?"

"But the building directly across the street had an outside security camera put in just last year. We managed to obtain the tape from last night and from what I've been told, it was able to pick up some sort of activity going on in the alleyway. It's poor quality. Pretty grainy and shitty they say. But we're going to pass it along to the best video surveillance guy around. If anybody can clean it up and zero in on the person in the tape, it's him."

Drew breathed a small sigh of relief. It was a longshot as video tape wasn't always clear enough to convict somebody, but at least it was something. "Thanks Mike. I needed to hear that. At least it's something to hope for."

"I'll talk to you in the morning and keep you updated, okay? Now I want you to listen to me, Drew. You have a bunch of personal days racked up that you've never taken, so do me a favor. Take a few days off. Get your head on straight and take a breather, okay? We've got everything under control here anyway."

"Yeah, okay. That sounds like a good idea. I'll do that. Thanks Mike," Drew stated and then hung up.

Drew turned his attention back to Aiden. He reached out and took his hand, holding on to it tightly. He stared down at the motionless, unconscious body in the bed. Every breath Aiden took appeared to be labored. The beeps and blips of the medical equipment monitoring his heart rate and breathing droned on monotonously. He brought Aiden's limp hand close to his mouth and placed a kiss on his fingers.

"I am so, SO sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."

Drew vowed to remain at the hospital almost non-stop for the next few days to watch over Aiden while he recovered.


	12. "I'm Here For You"

Standing in the hallway outside of Aiden's hospital room, Drew held the cell phone up to his ear as he spoke.

"Yes, they're releasing him today, Nick. The doctor said he needs at least four to six weeks of taking it easy. Look...I KNOW you guys want to take care of Aiden, but for right now he needs a proper bed to recover in. He needs to be kept warm, to be able to have a hot shower. So please, just let me take him home for one week...just until he's able to take care of himself a little bit better. Then I'll hand him back over to you guys, I promise. Fair enough? And as far as Lenny knows, Aiden is being kept in the hospital anyway, right? Good. Thanks for understanding, Nick."

Drew put his cell phone into his back pocket and stepped back into the hospital room. He then grabbed a clean T-shirt from a bag that he brought from home. He approached Aiden, who was sitting up on the side of the hospital bed, and gingerly tugged it over his head. As he helped Aiden get his arms through the sleeves, he couldn't help but notice the extensive dark red-purplish bruising than ran down his entire right side and down over his hip. Drew wasn't sure how many times he had been hit or kicked there, but there was no doubt it must have gone on for a while to have left such a large area of heavy bruising.

Aiden was leaving the hospital today, though he was far from well. But due to lack of insurance the hospital wasn't able to keep him any longer, even though he was still in pretty rough shape. They had taped his chest up to help heal his broken ribs up and they had finally removed him from the oxygen he had required due to the collapsed lung. He was now out of the woods as far as immediate danger was concerned, and just needed time to heal and a lot of rest.

Drew tossed the extra bandages, dressings and pain medication into a plastic bag that he would need to treat Aiden's injuries over the next week. His plan was to take him back to his apartment temporarily so he could recover properly. He wasn't about to let Aiden lie on a dirty floor in the condition he was in. Lenny was still in jail and was being told that Aiden would be in the hospital for another week, so it would be safe to take him home for now.

While Aiden initially balked at the idea at having Drew take care of him, he eventually agreed to being nursed back to health at his place. The last thing Aiden wanted to be was somebody's charity case, which is all he thought he was to Drew at this point. The last time he saw Drew prior to being hospitalized was with Bryan. That image was still very fresh in his mind, even if he had almost no recollection of the night he was assaulted. But the memory of Bryan grabbing Drew and squeezing him tightly and calling him 'baby' - that was not something he would quickly forget. Nor were the cruel words Bryan had said to him. But as much as he was hurt, he knew he would be far more comfortable at Drew's townhouse then back at Lenny's shitty apartment building. So he reluctantly agreed.

"So, I just got off the phone with Nick," Drew stated as he finished getting Aiden's arm through the sleeve hole. "He agreed it's probably best you come home with me for a little bit."

Aiden gave a slight scowl, but was in no condition to argue. He was in a lot of pain and weak. Ignoring Aiden's lack of enthusiasm, Drew grabbed a wheelchair and placed Aiden in it so he wouldn't have to walk to the parking lot. Once there, he helped Aiden into the front seat of his car, which was a painfully slow process, and then drove to his townhouse.

The ride home from the hospital only took about 15 minutes, but it had completely drained Aiden, who nodded off to sleep about halfway into the ride home. Once at the townhouse, he had to rely on Drew to help him up the stairs and then to help lower him to the bed. Drew pulled Aiden's sneakers off and held him under one arm to assist him in laying down, a task which caused a tremendous amount of pain. Once lying down, Aiden could feel his body relax as it sank into Drew's large, comfortable bed. As he lay there, he silently watched as Drew puttered around the bedroom and emptied out the hospital bag. He lined up all the medication bottles and supplies neatly on the bathroom countertop so they would be ready when needed, and placing the discharge instructions in plain view so he could refer to them as needed.

A faint smile spread across Aiden's face as he watched Drew pick up the instruction sheet, his lips silently forming the words as he read it to himself. It felt good to know that somebody cared enough to want to take care of him. Aside from his grandmother, nobody had ever much cared about him. And as much as Aiden was still emotionally hurt, he still had some pretty strong feelings for Drew.

Once done organizing the arsenal of medications and hospital supplies, Drew came and sat down on the side of the bed. He took his fingers and lightly brushed the side of Aiden's left cheek. "You get some rest now, okay? I'm going to go downstairs and make you some soup. I'll be back in a little bit and we'll change your dressings then, okay?"

Aiden looked up at him with heavy eyelids. He could feel himself starting to fall asleep and was struggling to stay awake. There were still so many questions he wanted ask, things he deserved to know the answers to. Drew _must_ care for him on some level or he wouldn't have taken him home, but why had he been at the sports bar with Bryan anyway? Why hadn't he said anything when Bryan verbally attacked him and Jimmy? If Drew cared about him like he thought he did, why had any of that happened?

Aiden opened his mouth to speak, but he was too physically exhausted to form a coherent sentence. His eyelids felt like they had lead in them and he was fighting to remain awake.

"Sshhhh...it's okay," Drew said softly, still stroking his cheek. "We'll talk when you're feeling better. Just know that I'm here for you, okay? And just so you know, I've been on the phone every day with Nick keeping him updated. He and a few of the boys even managed to get to the hospital once to see you," he smiled. "I know you probably don't remember because you were pretty out of it with all the medication they had you on, but they made it."

Aiden managed a weak smile upon hearing that. None of the boys had a car, so for them to manage to get to the hospital on foot would have been no small feat and it meant the world to him that they did that.

Then, almost as if reading his mind, Drew continued on in a soft voice. "And I'm really sorry for what Bryan said to you that night at the pub. I want you to know that I wasn't with him. I was totally taken off guard - I wasn't expecting to see him _or_ you there. Me and Mike had stopped in after work and Bryan just happened to be there with somebody else. And as soon as you and Jimmy left I threw him up against a wall for what he said about you. If it wasn't for Mike pulling me off of him, God knows what I would have done to him."

Aiden could tell by Drew's face that he meant every word he said. With those words giving him some peace, he gave a small nod of understanding and then, no longer able to fight it any longer, fell asleep.

Drew stood up from the bed and adjusted the blankets to ensure Aiden was covered and warm. He placed a light kiss on his forehead and left the bedroom.


	13. A Losing Battle

The first few days of taking care of Aiden were tough. Drew had never even taken care of a sick pet before, much less a human, but fortunately for him Aiden mostly slept through those initial days. He needed help getting out of bed and to the bathroom to shower, as well as help changing his shirt as his cracked ribs were still too painful to reach overhead. Drew discovered early on he needed the assistance of a notebook to jot down what times he needed to give out certain medications so he could keep it all straight. But after almost a week of being with Drew, Aiden was beginning to feel a little bit better.

Drew had gone to work today as he had used up all of his personal days and Aiden seemed well enough to be left alone for a few hours. Drew had given him strict orders to stay in bed until he got home. Knowing he would most likely be bored, Drew had given him a tablet to occupy the time. He also gave him a photo album that Aiden had seen perched on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. Drew's mother had given him the album a few years ago when he had decided to make the move to the big city.

Aiden spent much of the afternoon looking through the album. He enjoyed seeing Drew as a baby and young child, but he was completely transfixed by all the family photos. There were photos of Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas celebrations, birthday parties, Little League games and family vacations... the list went on and on. This was a type of life that Aiden could have only dreamed of.

Aiden then looked at the final pages of the photo album, which included more recent photos of Drew. There was one in particular that Aiden liked. He pulled the photo out of the protective plastic sleeve and stared at it. It was of Drew sitting in front of a fireplace at his parent's home he assumed. Drew's smile was big and his eyes were bright, and judging from the festive red and green sweater he was wearing, it had probably been taken last Christmas when he went home to visit his family. It was a perfect picture that showed off how handsome he was and Aiden found himself staring at it longingly for quite some time. How he wished he could belong to Drew. He knew it would never happen, but he could still wish.

Aiden placed the photo back into its designated spot in the album and set it aside. Having grown weary of playing games on the tablet, Aiden simply laid in bed for the rest of the afternoon very bored, with nothing but time on his hands now. And with all that extra time and nothing to do, he found himself getting lost in his thoughts.

He had gone over the details of the night of the assault a thousand times. The hospital staff had questioned him, the police had questioned him, and Drew had questioned him. He simply couldn't remember anything else. All he remembered was getting ready to leave at the end of his shift when the club closed. One of the bouncers had pulled him aside to talk. He remembered that. And by the time he left that night, the other dancers were already gone. He recalled stepping out the back door into the alley...and nothing more. His next memory after that was waking up in the hospital bed two days later wracked with pain.

Aiden had grown tired of trying to remember what happened. What difference did it make now anyway? He tried to adjust his pillows to get more comfortable and in doing so, happened to glance over at the nightstand whose drawer was still very much locked. A frown formed on his face. He appreciated that Drew was taking care of him, but he still felt very unsure where things stood. Drew was still so secretive and reserved and he never quite knew what was going on his head.

At about 5 pm, Drew finally came home from work and went upstairs to find Aiden sitting up in bed and looking quite bored, the tablet and photo album having been tossed to the side.

"Hey, so how you doing today?" Drew asked with a smile. Today was to be Aiden's last day here. He couldn't realistically keep him here any longer. Lenny would eventually figure out that the hospital wouldn't still have him, so he needed to return home.

"Okay, I guess. I feel a little better I think."

"Good," Drew stated as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Aiden looked up at him with large, sad eyes. He wasn't fully sure what had happened in the alley or why, but he was grateful that Drew had stepped back into his life to help. "Thank you. For taking care of me, I mean."

"Oh, it was nothing."

"No, it's not just nothing," Aiden replied. "It means a lot to me that you took time off of work to babysit me while I was getting better. You didn't have to do that. Why did you anyway?" he prodded.

"Well, like I said before, it's complicated but....I honestly DO care about you, Aiden."

"What about Bryan? Do you still care about him?"

Drew shook his head. "No, I don't. I have no feelings left for him - THAT I can promise you."

Aiden wanted to believe what he was saying was sincere, but he also didn't want to get hurt again. "But you didn't throw the photos of him away, did you? The ones you keep in that drawer? The drawer's still locked so...so I guess that means you wanted to keep his photos, right?"

Drew picked up one of Aiden's hands and held it in his own, knowing that some of the white lies he had been forced to tell had made Aiden question his intentions. "I'm going to be honest with you. I don't have any photos of Bryan locked in that drawer. I'll show you what's in there eventually, but now isn't the right time." He paused and looked thoughtfully down on Aiden, hating the fact that he had to keep so many secrets from him. "You know, if I had met you in a different time and place I think...maybe..." he trailed off, not sure if he should say anymore.

"Maybe what?" Aiden prodded.

"Maybe we would've had a chance together," Drew stated and smiled sadly as he gently tousled the hair on Aiden's head, careful to avoid the cut that was still bandaged and healing. As he looked down on him in the bed, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt over everything that had happened. Aiden was still far from fully recovered. He hated having to bring him back to the filthy, dilapidated apartment, but he also knew it wasn't safe to keep him here any longer.

"I really wish you could stay with me longer," Drew stated as he ran a finger gently along the side of Aiden's face and lightly traced his jawline. His feelings were growing stronger and he was finding it more and more difficult to keep denying them. His biggest fear right now was of Aiden getting hurt again - or worse. Once he went back to The Cage, Drew had no control of what might happen, and that was the worst feeling of all.

As he looked at Aiden, he couldn't help but fall under the spell of those large blue eyes. For a moment, he felt himself become completely lost in them. Aiden wasn't just beautiful on the outside; he was beautiful on the inside as well. His eyes then slowly moved down to look at Aiden's lips and lingered there far too long, suggesting that he wanted to kiss him. He made a very small gesture of moving forward to do just that, but then hesitated.

Disappointed that Drew wasn't able to follow through, Aiden gingerly raised his arms up to place them around Drew's neck, then lightly pulled him down. If Drew didn't have the nerve to kiss him, then he would do it himself.

The kiss was soft and warm, but only lasted a few seconds before Aiden suddenly winced and let out a small cry of discomfort, his ribs and shoulders still causing a stabbing pain if he moved the wrong way.

Drew immediately pulled back from the kiss, not wanting to hurt him in any way. He felt horrible that Aiden was in the condition he was because of him. If he could take away some of the pain...or make Aiden feel better for even a moment or two, he wanted to. It was the very least he could do.

Drew leaned in close to Aiden's ear and whispered, "Just lie still for a minute, okay?" He proceeded to move the blanket down to uncover Aiden. Using his index fingers, he gently pulled on the elastic waistband of Aiden's lounging pants until they were brought down to his ankles. Drew then leaned over and quickly took all of Aiden inside his mouth, causing a gasp of sheer surprise from the younger.

Aiden closed his eyes tightly. He was fearful if he opened them it would all disappear into thin air, like a dream. Drew then positioned himself more comfortably between Aiden's legs, gently spreading them apart just a bit. Aiden's thighs still showed bruising, although there were now signs of healing as well. Drew lightly brushed his fingertips over all the bruises while he felt Aiden's manhood quickly swell within his mouth.

Aiden had to resist the urge to thrash and contort his body with the onset of pleasure he was feeling, knowing that it would only cause more pain. Instead, he tried to remain as still as possible while Drew pleased him in a way he had never felt before. Drew was completely attentive and was taking his time with him. Aiden had never experienced anything like this before - he was used to _doing_ the pleasing, not being on the receiving end.

Drew took his time going up and down Aiden's shaft, making sure to pay extra attention to the now leaking and sensitive tip. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Aiden grab the sheets with his fists and hold on to them tightly. Drew could feel Aiden's body begin to tense beneath his fingers as the start of an orgasm began to roll over him.

A full minute hadn't even elapsed when Drew heard a low moan escape from Aiden. He then tasted the warm liquid that spilled into his mouth. He swallowed all of it and gave a few more licks to Aiden's cock to ensure he had taken it all.

Drew then pulled the lounging pants back up into place and laid beside Aiden, who was visibly out of breath from the first real physical activity he had had since being hospitalized. Even though the act was over quickly, his body was exhausted from it. He looked up at Drew with an appreciative, happy smile. Drew leaned over and kissed him on the lips, allowing Aiden to taste himself this time.

Now feeling closer to Drew than ever, Aiden simply stared up at him. There were so many things he wanted to say to Drew. He wanted to tell him how much he loved him, how much he needed him, how badly he wanted to belong to him...but he was too tired at the moment to muster it. Instead, all he could do was nuzzle his head against Drew's shoulder and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep again, his body still demanding a nap or two every day as it recovered.

Drew laid quite still for a time, simply watching Aiden sleep. He could have seen himself with Aiden long-term. If only things had been different. If they had met under different circumstances, Aiden quite possibly could have been the one.

Feeling the vibration of his cell phone in his pants pocket, Drew reached in to retrieve it. He could see that it was Jimmy calling.

"Hi, Jimmy," Drew whispered softly in an attempt to not wake Aiden up.

"Hey. So, Lenny just called us from jail. He thinks he's gonna have his bail posted any day now. He wanted to know where Aiden was. Nick lied and told him he was still in the hospital, but we can't keep lying forever. Lenny's not stupid. Nick says Aiden has to come back today because...well, we're afraid Lenny's gonna find out where he is and take it out on all of us."

"Yeah, I understand, Jimmy," Drew replied quietly. "I was planning on bringing him back tonight anyway. He's sleeping right now, but we'll be there soon."

Later that evening, Drew reluctantly drove Aiden back home. When they pulled up to the old apartment building, Jimmy was already waiting outside and stepped up to the car to grab Aiden under the arm. It would be a tediously slow task getting him up the three flights of stairs to their apartment, but Jimmy was ready and willing.

"Bye, Drew!" Aiden said happily as Jimmy got him to the front door of the building. "And thanks...I mean for taking care of me," he grinned shyly, knowing Drew might have assumed he was thanking him for the oral sex that had taken place just a few hours earlier.

Drew gave a sad wave to him as Jimmy managed to get him through the front door of the building. He then saw Nick step out and begin to approach him. Drew handed him the hospital bag with Aiden's medication and bandages and provided a quick explanation that the notebook inside would tell him what time to give the medications and in what dosage.

"Thanks," Nick stated as he took the bag. He then took a deep breath before continuing. "I appreciate you taking care of Aiden this past week, but Lenny's going to be released any day now. Lenny's a lot of things, but he's not stupid, you know? Lenny knows _exactly_ who you are Drew...and so do I."

Drew swallowed hard at the statement, but it came as no surprise. He kept his gaze fixed on Nick's eyes and tried not to blink, flinch, or give any indication that he was unnerved by the statement.

"Aiden doesn't have a clue who you really are and neither do the other boys, and I think it's better we keep it that way," Nick continued in a serious tone. "But I think it would be best if you didn't come around here anymore. It's not safe for Aiden...or any of us."

Drew nodded. "I understand."

"Do you?" Nick asked with a touch of irritation. "I'm not sure you do. I don't want you hurting Aiden anymore. He's cried on my shoulder more than once about you and it's not fair to him. He doesn't deserve to be treated like that. You build his hopes up - he thinks you have feelings for him, and then nothing. Life is hard enough for him without you making it more difficult. He has feelings you know. You can't just go around using people to get the information you want."

"It's not like that, I swear..."

Nick waved his hand abruptly in the air to indicate he didn't want to hear anything Drew had to say.

"Just stay away," Nick stated solemnly. "Whatever you're trying to do, or whoever you're trying to save...just stop. Give up. Just let us all be, okay? You'll never win against Lenny. It's a losing battle anyway. This is our lot in life. We've accepted it...so should you," he finished with a touch of defeat.

Once Nick turned around and headed back to the apartment, Drew returned to his car. He sat there for a few minutes realizing that he had fucked things up royally yet again. A momentary lapse of judgment had caused him to perform an intimate act on Aiden and he should have _never_ done that. Yet again he had built up false hope in Aiden, who was only going to be disappointed when Drew didn't come by or call tomorrow. He wasn't intentionally toying with Aiden's emotions, but that is exactly what he did regardless.

"FUCK!" Drew yelled from inside his car as he banged his hand hard on the steering wheel. Nick was right. This entire case certainly seemed to be losing battle and at each and every turn Drew was just making things worse.


	14. The Pendulum Has Swung

_~Two weeks later~_

Drew sat on his couch, his law book opened to the chapter he was going to be tested on next week. With everything going on in trying to convict Lenny, his studies had taken a backseat. Today had been set aside to cram in as much as he could before the raid on The Cage happened...because it _was_ happening. According to his partner Mike, the video expert had been able to clean up the grainy image enough to identify the person who assaulted Aiden. In addition to that, the police chief finally felt they had enough solid evidence to hold up in court to arrest Lenny for a multitude of violations, not the least of which being prostitution.

Lenny had been on his best behavior since being released from jail. He had begun issuing his employees payroll paychecks that the government could track and was beginning to pay his back taxes, but the backroom blowjobs and "renting" out of his dancers at night was still continuing. He had been operating this way for over two decades and had no doubt in his mind that things would continue on as they always had without issue.

But Drew knew that with all the evidence they had gathered prior, things were now moving in the right direction. And while Drew couldn't be sure when it would happen, he suspected within a few days to a week at the most before the search warrant, raid and arrest would take place. It was simply a waiting game at this point.

As Drew read the same paragraph in his law book twice to make sure it sank in, he heard a knock on his front door. He placed his book down on the couch and walked to the door to open it. Shocked would be an understatement to describe how he felt seeing Aiden standing there. He had stayed away from The Cage as Nick had requested and Aiden was the last person he ever expected to show up on his doorstep.

"Oh my God! What are you doing here? How did you even get here?" Drew asked as he stuck his head outside and looked around, just in case somebody had been following him.

"I took a bus to High Street and then I walked the rest of the way," Aiden stated rather proudly of his solo accomplishment.

"Jesus Christ, Aiden! That's a long way for you walk. Come in - come in!" he stated as he grabbed Aiden's arm and whisked him in quickly before closing the door. As he looked at Aiden he could see that most of his facial bruises had begun to heal. The gash to his forehead that had required stitches was concealed by a long chunk of blond hair that fell to the side and over his eye. The bruises that remained had turned a yellowish-green as they were disappearing, but overall he looked so much better than when he had seen him last.

Seeing the surprised look on Drew's face, Aiden shuffled his feet a little, knowing he had come uninvited and had caught him off guard. "I'm sorry I didn't call first but...but I figured if I did, you wouldn't let me come," Aiden stated in a small voice. "I know Nick told you to stay away from all of us. But I really wanted to see you. I don't know why Nick doesn't like you anyway," he mumbled.

Drew ran his hand nervously through his hair. "Um, yeah, me neither." He suddenly remembered that his textbook entitled "Criminal Law" was lying in plain view on the couch. He quickly unzipped the hoody he was wearing and tossed it as nonchalantly as he could on top of the book in an attempt to conceal the title. He then turned back around to face his unexpected guest.

As Aiden stood before him smiling broadly and clearly very happy to be there, Drew felt that he almost owed him a warning of what was to come. He couldn't say it in so many words, of course, but he at least wanted to convey the message that Aiden needed to be prepared for something.

"So...uh...there's something I've been wanting to tell you," Drew began. "I mean, I haven't exactly been open with you and uh....I feel really bad about that and uh...I guess what I'm trying to say is that...well," he stammered a bit, not able to find the right words. "I have feelings for you, Aiden. I know it probably hasn't seemed like that with things being the way they are, but no matter what happens, I need you to remember that, okay?"

Puzzled, Aiden stared at him. "What are you talking about? What's gonna happen?"

"Just...nevermind. Just promise me that you'll remember."

"Um, yeah, okay. I guess," Aiden replied while scratching his head. "But...but what's going on? Why can't you ever tell me anything? You always talk in circles and I never understand what you're trying to say. The last time I was here you...we...well, you know," he looked at him sheepishly, remembering the unexpected and best blow job he had ever received. "It's kind of like, one minute I think you really care about me, and then the next minute it seems like you don't."

Drew could tell by Aiden's face that he didn't understand a thing that was going on. Any day now Aiden's world would be turned upside down; he just didn't know it yet. And while Drew didn't know exactly what would happen to the employees of The Cage, at the very least Aiden would be out of a job, have no source of income and have nowhere to live.

Aiden looked so helpless and vulnerable standing there before him. Drew wanted to tell him everything, but he couldn't. Just one word of what was about to happen to Nick or Jimmy might be overheard by Lenny or one of his goons, and that could unravel all the hard word that he and Mike had done. He simply couldn't risk that - not at this late stage of the game.

Drew sighed. "I wish I could explain everything to you, I really do."

Aiden threw his hands up in the air in exasperation at the same generic answer he had been hearing from Drew from day one. "What the fuck is going on?!" he shouted in frustration. "Do you want me or not?! I have feelings you know!" His voice cracked on his last word, showing how emotionally invested he had become.

Aiden's words felt like a stab to the heart because Drew knew he had hurt him...again. Acting on pure impulse and without even thinking, Drew reached out and quickly grabbed Aiden around the waist, pulled him in and kissed him hard on the mouth. He was so fucking sick and tired of putting his feelings on hold and whether this was right or wrong, he wanted Aiden in the worst way and he deserved to know that.

Aiden initially resisted and tried to pull back, wanting very much to get a straight answer to his question, but he quickly succumbed to Drew's strong hold on him.

Not removing his arms or lips from Aiden until he had felt his body completely relax, Drew then took Aiden firmly by the wrist and silently led him upstairs to his bedroom where he quickly removed both of their shirts. Aiden stared at Drew's bare chest for the first time and admired how toned and muscular he was. He tentatively ran his right hand over Drew's pectoral muscles so he could feel them. He suddenly felt very self-conscious of his own extremely thin and boyish figure with little to no muscle definition. Aiden had the body characteristics of a twink and with him not having much of an appetite lately, his ribs were even more visible than normal.

As he went in for another kiss, Drew ran both of his hands up and down Aiden's hips and sides, quite content with Aiden's lean appearance. He held back from forcefully pushing Aiden down on the bed, knowing his ribs were not 100% healed yet, and instead gently pushed him down on the mattress. He climbed on top, making sure to keep the bulk of his weight on his arms, but still making it very clear that he wanted Aiden and it was going to be on his terms.

Happily surprised at this turn of events, Aiden raised his arms above his head and submissively rested them on the pillow. His body was Drew's for the taking and he portrayed that in the way he looked up at him with his half-lidded, large blue eyes.

Knowing Aiden had probably never been with another man unless an exchange of cash had occurred (that only really benefited Lenny), Drew wanted to spend a few extra minutes on foreplay so Aiden understood that he wasn't just a sex toy to him. While gently sucking on the side of Aiden's neck, he began to roll his pelvis and dry humped Aiden to get him prepared.

Keeping his arms wrapped firmly around Drew's neck, Aiden drank in the scent of his partner that he come to know and recognize. Drew always managed to smell so good. He could feel himself quickly becoming hard beneath the friction of the other's hips.

After a bit, Drew stood up from the bed and quickly removed Aiden's jeans for him, tossing them on the floor. He then unzipped his own jeans and let them and his underwear fall to the floor as well.

Still lying on the bed, Aiden stared in awe upon seeing Drew's naked body for the first time. He was perfect in every way imaginable. Aiden's eyes wandered over every inch of him, lingering longer over his erect manhood. He again felt a moment of self-doubt, worried that he didn't measure up to the perfect specimen of the man before him. But the wicked grin on Drew's face told him that Drew was quite pleased with what his eyes saw as well.

Drew took his position back on the bed and balanced himself on his hands and knees over Aiden. He took his right hand and grasped each of their cocks, squeezing them both tightly together. He slowly rocked himself forward and backwards in an attempt to please both of them at the same time. Within seconds each was covered in the other's wet slick.

Aiden watched as Drew worked hard to please him, every once in a while looking up into Drew's eyes to let him know that he was enjoying every second of it. It made Aiden happy to see Drew closing his eyes and moaning lightly. He feared he wouldn’t be able to satisfy Drew the way Bryan had, so he made sure to notice every indication, no matter how small, that Drew was turned on.

When Drew paused for a moment, Aiden took the opportunity to turn around and position himself on all fours to be taken from behind, as he was used to doing. For a brief second, Drew considered telling him to turn back around so he look directly at him, but he knew this position would be best. Taking Aiden from behind would prevent him from putting any extra weight on him if he were lying on top. It had only been three weeks since the assault after all, and there were still several bruises that had yet to fully disappear over his body. He grabbed Aiden by the hips, bent over slightly and ran his tongue up the length of his back and spine, making sure to linger a little longer at the arch when he noticed the shiver run through Aiden's body at the sensation.

Drew then slid open a small drawer in the headboard of the bed and pulled out a condom and some lube. After sliding the condom on himself, he applied a generous amount of lubricant to his middle finger and began to prep Aiden.

Bowing his head down further into the pillow, Aiden gasped softly as he felt Drew's finger massaging his opening. He bit down on his lip and moaned softly. He had never been with anybody who cared about how HE felt during a sex act. But Drew - Drew was altogether different.

From behind, Drew took his time as he readied his partner. Aiden wasn't a one-night stand or a backroom fast-fuck. He meant so much more than that. He slid his middle finger inside the tight opening, causing Aiden to let out a loud mewl. Drew smiled knowing that Aiden was enjoying what he was doing and wondered if perhaps this was the first time Aiden had EVER enjoyed sex.

He quickly added a second finger to make sure Aiden would have no difficulty taking him and only when he was positive that he had given him enough foreplay did he pull out and position himself to enter him. But before doing so, he bent down to plant a few more kisses on the back of Aiden's neck and whispered, "Do you still want this? It's okay if you don't. I won't be mad, I promise."

Aiden turned his head to look over his shoulder, his face flushed and his eyes full of desire. "I want this...I swear I want this. Don't stop, please!"

With that, Drew repositioned himself and slowly entered Aiden. He kept his hands on Aiden's hips and pulled him in a little each time he withdrew and reentered. He took thing slow and made sure he stopped before completely bottoming out. He wanted to go deeper and harder, but instead kept his thrusting gentle. He wanted to fuck him so much harder, but he knew for this first time that wouldn't be fair to Aiden. He found a steady rhythm and watched intently as his cock disappeared deep inside Aiden, only to reappear for a brief moment before being sheathed within his partner once again.

With Aiden's groans of pleasure becoming louder, Drew reached down and grabbed him underneath the arms and pulled him upright up so that they were both upright on their knees, making sure to remain inside Aiden the entire time. He wrapped one arm around Aiden's chest to keep him close and with the other he grabbed his cock.

Resting his head back against Drew's shoulder, Aiden allowed himself to be taken from behind and pleased from the front. No sex act had ever felt so amazing to him before. He knew he was in good hands...Drew's hands...and he willingly allowed himself to fall under his complete control.

"Oh fuck! Oh fuck!" Drew chanted over and over as he kept thrusting, feeling himself close to the verge. He had often prided himself on having the ability to last a long time, but Aiden was so dam tight and the tiny grunts of pleasure in his ear were driving him closer to coming. With a few more gentle pumps, Drew heard Aiden release a loud half-cry/half-moan as he simultaneously felt a warm liquid cover his hand. He looked down to see that Aiden had released several white streams of cum onto the sheets. After witnessing that, Drew knew he wasn't able to hold on any longer. "Oh fuck! I'm gonna cum too, Aiden!" he cried as he buried his head in Aiden's neck and held him tightly as he shot his load over and over into Aiden and rode out his orgasm.

When they had both come, Drew withdrew and the two collapsed down on the bed together, their knees too tired to support their weight any longer. Aiden quickly rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around Drew. "I love you," he whispered as he nuzzled himself into Drew's neck.

Drew heard the words, but was completely silent. He wanted to say the words back, but he was conflicted. After months of feeling like things were moving at a snail's pace, now things were moving entirely too fast. He had just had sex with Aiden, who had unexpectedly professed his love for him. At any time now The Cage would be raided and Aiden would find out who he really was - an undercover cop that had initially used him for information. He had no idea how it was all going to play out. He could only hope that Aiden would understand and not hold it against him when the shit hit the fan.

Drew stared up at the ceiling, unable to look Aiden directly in the eye after he had just professed his love for him. "Aiden?," he said softly. "Just remember what I said before. I care about you - more than you probably even know. Please don't ever, EVER forget that."

Aiden looked inquisitively at him, slightly hurt that Drew hadn't been able to echo his own words. "What are you trying to say? Why would I forget that?" he asked. All the old feelings of insecurity began to creep back in. Was tonight just a one-time conquest for Drew? Had Bryan come back into picture after all? Was Drew using him to make Bryan jealous? Drew was still so closed off and secretive and it seemed he always would be.

"I just can't tell you everything yet, that's all. I'm sorry," Drew stated softly. He then rolled over on his side so he could face Aiden. "Listen. I don't want you to go to work tonight. Or ever, for that matter. Don't go back there."

"But I have to," Aiden replied with exasperation and not understanding. "We've been through this before. It's my job. If I don't show up for work tonight Lenny will be pissed. He'll take it out on the dancers and I can't do that to my friends," he stated. Aiden was loyal to a fault when it came to his friends and Drew had to admire him for that.

Drew sighed heavily knowing that he had again made things more complicated. Outside of telling Aiden the whole truth, there was no way he could prevent him from returning to The Cage.

Knowing it would take a while to get back to The Cage by foot and bus, Aiden reluctantly got up from the bed and put his clothes back on.

"I don't want you walking back all that way. I'll call you a cab," Drew offered as he pulled his own jeans on as well. "Just tell him to drop you off a few blocks away from The Cage so nobody sees or questions you, okay?" He felt guilty not driving him back himself, but he couldn’t risk being seen anywhere near The Cage, and especially not with Aiden.

Aiden nodded, happy to have a ride back, but not sure why Drew didn't want to take him himself, especially after just having had sex for the first time. But Nick _had_ told him to stay away, so he guessed he understood.

As Aiden prepared to leave, he felt he had to tell Drew something. It was one of the reasons why he had come to his apartment today in the first place. It wasn't something he _wanted_ to tell Drew, but he knew he had to.

"So, umm...well...I just want to let you know that I might not be around much anymore," Aiden stated. "That's part of why I wanted to come and see you today."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Lenny said it's time I start doing overnights and stuff, like the other boys. He figures I'm probably close to ready. I guess some of his customers have been asking him about me," he said softly while looking down at the floor.

Drew's jaw dropped at the bombshell of unexpected news. This was about the last thing Drew had wanted to hear. They were so close to shutting down The Cage at this point - why was this happening now?

"Lenny says as soon as _all_ my bruises are gone, he's going to test me out. And if I pass, then I'll be on the roster for customers to rent me. "

"What you mean 'test' you out?" Drew asked, knowing exactly what he meant, but just not wanting to believe it.

Aiden looked down at the ground again and shuffled his feet. "Well, you know...he has to make sure that I can...um...satisfy a customer," he stated with embarrassment. "Lenny said he'll make more money off me that way than just the backroom stuff I've been doing."

Drew felt his blood pressure rising and could feel the tips of his ears begin to burn. "So Lenny personally 'tests' all you boys out himself, is that right?! That fucking son-of-a-bitch pig!!" he shouted in anger.

Aiden nodded while staring down at the carpeting in shame. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know myself, before you hear it from somebody else. When you get rented, it can be for a few hours, or _all_ night long. Sometimes Nick gets rented out seven or eight nights in a row before he gets a night off and we hardly see him. So I'm probably gonna be really busy in another week or two and I just wanted to see you again cuz...well, because you're probably not gonna wanna have anything to do with me after that," he finished sadly.

Drew opened his mouth to speak but no words came. What could he say? How did this all happen? And how could he fix it? He felt frozen in place as his mind began to race. He mentally calculated in his head if the raid and arrest would happen before Aiden's bruises had completely healed. He prayed to God that it did. Drew wasn't much of a religious man, but if ever there was a time for a prayer to be said, it was now. He closed his eyes tight, fighting off the urge to just grab Aiden, hold him close and disclose the entire truth so that he wouldn't go back to The Cage. But he knew Aiden would warn his friends and he just couldn't have that happen.

Aiden studied Drew's reaction. He was clearly upset and angry. Sensing that Drew had nothing further to say, Aiden walked down stairs and out the front door to wait for the cab. 

As he sat down on the front step and waited for the cab, Aiden felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Drew was probably completely done with him at this point. And who could blame him after the news he just gave him? And worst of all, Aiden still hadn't received a straight answer of why Drew was so secretive and guarded. But nothing was going to prepare him for the real answer...the one that he was going to get tonight. The pendulum had begun to swing and nothing could stop it now. Everything was set in motion at this point, even though he was oblivious to it.


	15. The Raid

_~Later that night~_

The club was hopping this evening. They had a large crowd, the music was blaring, the liquor was flowing, and the dancers were dancing. From within his metal cage Aiden looked out onto the full club and silently hoped his break came soon. He had been dancing for two straight hours and was becoming fatigued. He wasn't fully recovered from his ordeal and the doctor had instructed him to take it easy for four to six weeks, but Lenny had insisted he return to work over a week ago. The rules were: If you don't work, you're not allowed to stay in the apartment. So, with quite a bit of liquid makeup and concealer applied to his face, arms and legs, his bruises were for the most part unnoticeable and he was put back to work.

As the music segued into the next song, Aiden took a moment to pause and catch his breath. He glanced over to Jimmy who was in the cage right beside him.

"You okay?" Jimmy asked as he moved closer to Aiden's cage, placing his hands on the metal poles that separated the two. He had been keeping an eye on Aiden and knew he wasn't feeling well.

Aiden nodded and mustered a smile. He wasn't really, but he didn't want to worry Jimmy. There was nothing he could do about it anyway.

"Hey, where were you today? You were gone a long time," Jimmy asked.

Aiden stepped closer to where the two cages connected so he didn't have to yell over the music. "Well, don't tell anybody, but I went to see Drew."

"No way!" Jimmy replied with surprise. "Does Nick know? He said he didn't want you seeing him anymore."

"Nah, Nick doesn't know, so don't tell him because he'd be mad. But I really wanted to see Drew. We...um...we..." Aiden gave a mischievous grin as he recalled what had happened in Drew's bed only a few hours earlier.

Jimmy's eyes opened wide as he read between the lines. "You didn't?! You had sex with him?" he laughed. "Oh my God, Aiden! Was it good? Tell me, tell me!"

Aiden nodded his head up and down as he smiled shyly. "Yeah, it was. It was amazing actually. And I even told him that I love him."

Jimmy paused for a moment upon hearing that. "Well, did he say it back? Does he feel the same way?" he asked hopefully.

The smile from Aiden's face slowly faded as he recalled what transpired immediately after the sex. He shook his head in the negative to indicate that Drew didn't seem to feel the same way. "I don't think I'm exactly what he's looking for....long-term," he stated while looking down at the floor of his cage.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Aiden," Jimmy replied with genuine disappointment. "I mean, he seems like a nice guy and all, but maybe things just weren't meant to be, you know? And besides..."

**_WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!!_ **

Both Jimmy and Aiden jumped back in fear as the unexpected sound of metal vibrating in their ears almost deafened them. They looked outside of their cages to see that Lenny had taken a metal chair and slammed it against Aiden's cage three times to get their attention.

"I don't fucking pay you two to shoot the shit! Get back to work! Either you fucking dance or you're fucking outta here!!!" Lenny hollered as he angrily tossed the chair to the floor and stormed off to his office.

Both boys immediately jumped back into the center spots of their respective cages and carried on with their dancing. From two cages down, Nick looked through his own bars and gave them a stern glare and a shake of his head, silently telling them to be on their best behavior and not cause any further problems tonight. Nick himself had been on the receiving end of Lenny's wrath more than a few times when he was new and tried his best to spare the younger ones from experiencing it firsthand.

The remainder of the night dragged on endlessly with Aiden staring at the clock above the bar every minute or so. It was now almost midnight and he was so tired and sore. His ribs were aching and his shoulder was throbbing. All he wanted to do was go home and crawl under the blue blanket Drew had given him and go to sleep. The hardwood floor that would be waiting for him there sounded like heaven at this point.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Aiden could see a commotion begin to breakout out near the front door. At first he thought two customers had gotten into some sort of brawl, which happened almost nightly with the amount of drinking going on, but he soon took notice of several uniformed police offers standing there with guns drawn.

The DJ apparently noticed it too and quickly turned off the music. At the exact moment the music stopped, the first officer yelled "Freeze! Everyone stay where you are!"

A sudden hush fell over the club as customers and employees alike were taken aback and not sure what was going on. Aiden moved to the front of his cage, wrapped his hands around the metal bars and peered out to see what was happening. Coming from behind the first officer were several others, included a few plain clothed ones. Aiden couldn't tell how many there were in total, but there seemed to be quite a lot. It wasn't until somebody flipped the overhead lights on that Aiden's eyes fell upon Drew - standing there in a suit, a gun in one hand and his badge in the other, his eyes scanning the room to make sure everybody remained still as instructed.

Drew's eyes then locked with Aiden's. He could see Aiden's face fall as he realized what was happening. Aiden stood there, shaking his head ever so slightly and mouthing the word "No" in disbelief. The pieces to the puzzle had finally all fallen into place. It was now crystal clear he had been lied to the entire time, from the very beginning, and it felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

Aiden could hear a scuffle ensue by the manager's office and saw Lenny being hauled out in handcuffs by two officers. As they dragged him across the room, Lenny spotted Drew and began to scream at him. "You fucking pig cop! You're gonna regret this! You ain't got nothing on me! I haven't done anything and you can't prove that I did!! I'll be out of jail before you know it!!" He then lurched forward and attempted to spit on Drew, but was just out of range.

As Lenny was escorted out of the club, several other officers approached the cage area and instructed all the dancers to step out with their hands above their heads. Aiden did as he was told and an officer grabbed him roughly, jerking his still sore shoulder behind his back so he could handcuff him.

Jimmy was the first dancer to be cuffed and brought out. He looked completely terrified and Drew's heart went out to him. "It's gonna be okay, Jimmy," he said in an attempt to calm him as he passed by with an officer. Following Jimmy came Nick, and if looks could kill Drew would have been dead on the spot.

Drew turned back toward the cage area to see an officer jostling Aiden around and shoving him aggressively toward the door. "Hey! Easy with him! There's no reason to be so fucking rough!" he reprimanded the other officer.

Aiden raised his eyes to look at Drew. "Why? Why didn't you tell me?," he cried out as the officer continued to move him toward the front door. "You lied to me! I wouldn't have said a thing, I swear! I would have done anything for you because...because I loved you!" his voice cracking as he said the last words.

Drew's heart physically stung at the sound of those words. "I'm sorry, Aiden. I'm so sorry..."

"No you're not!" Aiden cut him off and screamed back. "You’re a fucking undercover cop! All you cared about was taking Lenny down and being a fucking hero to some police chief and maybe getting a big fat raise or promotion in the process! You never gave a shit about me! You just used me!" His eyes then traveled to the gun in Drew's hand. "Well, I guess I know what you were keeping locked in that drawer now, don't I? How could I have been so stupid! You were just using me the entire time! I hope you got everything you wanted out of it!" he snarled, his words dripping with sarcasm and venom.

"Come on, let's go!" the other officer stated impatiently as he directed Aiden out the front door of the club and into a police car to be taken down to the station for questioning.

Drew stood still for a moment, unable to clearly think or even move. Customers had scattered like ants and were leaving quickly; employees were still getting handcuffed and arrested or detained; special agents were tearing apart Lenny's office and confiscating computers and file cabinets. There was chaos and shouting going on all around him, and yet everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. All Drew could focus on was how badly he had hurt Aiden. What he had anticipated would be the most important day of his life, taking down Lenny, had become the worst.


	16. From One Cage to Another

_~The next day ~_

Drew and Mike sat in the conference room of the police station. Seated around the long table with them were the district attorney, the chief of police, a few lawyers and a social worker from Child Protective Services. They had all gathered to collectively discuss what had happened so far, and what the plan was moving forward as the case against Lenny went to trial.

Mike was busy studying the arrest records from the night prior and wanted to focus on the evidence files. As he began combing through those, he asked "So, in addition to Lenny, one of his security guards was arrested and charged with something, is that right?" The district attorney confirmed that Mike was correct and the two began a back and forth conversation regarding the formal charges against each man.

Drew, however, turned his attention to the social worker. She had been placed in charge of any boys who had been determined to be under age. In front of her was a large stack of papers and folders and Drew immediately began to pepper her with questions on the status of the boys taken in last night.

The woman opened up one of her folders and handed Drew several photocopied sheets as she spoke. She explained to him that most of The Cage employees had been released almost immediately, like Nick. He was 24 and there was no reason to hold him. The state wasn't going to charge any of the boys will prostitution as long as they were willing to testify against Lenny. But for those who were deemed to not be 18 yet, they had been transported to the juvenile detention facility while the system tried to locate their guardians.

"In those papers I gave you is a list of the boys who we determined to be underage," the social worker stated to Drew.

Drew flipped through the papers in front of him to locate the juvenile list. Upon locating it, he saw that there were seven names on the paper, with Aiden and Jimmy being among them. Beside each of their names were the typed words: _17 years of age._

Drew leaned back in his chair and put his hand to his forehead. He should've known Aiden was underaged. It's not like it was any secret that Lenny used underage boys to appeal to his customers. But he had wanted to believe Aiden that very first night when he said he was 18.

Looking over the paper again, Drew noticed that a few of the names had an alphanumerical code beside them. The code was present after Jimmy's name and a few others, but not Aiden's.

"What does this PGC-1093 number here mean?" Drew asked as he pointed to the code beside Jimmy's name.

"That indicates that the boy's parent or guardian has been contacted and has agreed to come and take the child home."

"And for the names that don't have that code?" Drew asked hesitantly, not truly wanting to hear the answer.

"Well, those are the boys who have nobody to be released to," the social worker stated. "Either we couldn’t locate anybody, or the guardians were simply unwilling to take the minor home with them. So, unfortunately, those boys will have to stay in the juvenile correctional center until their 18th birthday."

"Shit!" Drew said under his breath as he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair again to let it all sink in. He could only imagine what Aiden was going through at this very moment. The poor kid had been arrested for simply trying to survive in this world and was now going to be in juvie until he was 18. Drew didn't even know when Aiden's birthday was, so that could potentially mean several months.

Drew zoned in and out for the remainder of the debriefing, simply staring down at the sheets of paper in front of him. They had all the evidence - they had the video surveillance tape - they had the receipt signed by Lenny - they had hard drive evidence off of Lenny's computer - they had the boys who would testify - they had it all. At this point it seemed like a very open and shut case. But somehow in the flurry of evidence and arrests, Aiden had simply gone from living in one cage to another; and there wasn't a thing Drew could do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a very short chapter, so I will get the next one up by tomorrow.


	17. The Visiting Room

Drew allowed a few days to pass before mustering up the courage to go and visit Aiden at juvenile hall. He knew Aiden would need a cooling off period. He also knew that he was probably the last person Aiden wanted to see, but there was so much he needed to explain. He hoped and prayed that Aiden would listen to him.

As Drew drove onto the grounds of the juvenile detention center, he noted how much like an actual adult prison it looked like - including barbed wire fencing around the perimeters, bars in all the windows, and a guard who asked for his ID and inspected the trunk of his car before allowing him through the gate.

Once inside the facility, he was required to undergo a clearance and security check that included a full pat down and walking through a metal detector. Upon being cleared, Drew entered the visiting room and took a seat at a table. There were several other tables in the room with other teens having a visit with family members. Drew's leg bounced with nervous tension as he waited for Aiden to be ushered in, not knowing what his reaction would be to seeing him.

Within a few moments he saw a heavy metal door open and an officer entered with Aiden, who took one look at who was here to see him and scowled. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit issued by the Springfield Juvenile Detention Facility that had the letters SJDF stamped in black on the back. Looking very much like a prisoner, Aiden pulled the chair out sharply and sat down in a huff, clearly still very angry. The last thing he wanted to do was speak to Drew, but it was better than sitting in his "cell" like he did for the greater part of every day since being here.

Drew smiled uncomfortably at him, although Aiden refused to make eye contact. "Hey, how are you?" he began. "Are you eating? Are they treating you okay? I just want..."

"Oh shut up!" Aiden barked in a loud voice, causing some of the other visitors to glance in their direction. "You don't give a shit about me! Why are you even here? Is your conscience bothering you?! Or do you just want to pump more information out of me? Sorry to tell you, but I've got nothing left!"

Drew swallowed hard and took it. Aiden had every right to be angry, but if he would just listen to him, perhaps he could explain and make him understand.

"Aiden, listen. I'm here because I care about you and I'm so sorry for the way everything happened."

Aiden snorted, folded his arms across his chest and turned his head away in disgust.

"You know Aiden, I...I had a job to do and I did it. My intentions were never to hurt you."

"Your intentions mean shit! You lied to me!" Aiden hissed. " _'Once you catch somebody in a lie, you can never really trust them again,'_ " he said in a sing-song mocking tone. "Now where did I hear that before? Oh yeah, it was YOU that said that! Kind of ironic, isn't it?!" he scoffed as he used Drew's own words about Bryan against him.

"I know...I know...you're right, and I'm sorry about that. But it was my job. At the time, I couldn't risk telling you who I was, don't you understand?" Drew pleaded. "All I wanted to do was to put that scumbag in jail and make things better for all you boys."

Aiden leaned forward. "Better? You think this is better?!," he snarled. "I'm in fucking jail, Drew! Maybe I didn't have a cushy, perfect life like you, but it was better than this! Who the hell are you to say what's better for me?!" His voice cracked as his emotions began to overwhelm him. "All my friends are gone - I have nobody! The ones that got thrown in juvie like me are in a totally different part of the building so I don't even get to see them! I have fucking NOBODY!"

The visitors and juveniles at the other tables again turned to look at them as Aiden continued to speak far too loudly. Drew noticed the officer standing in the corner of the room begin to take notice as well. Drew held up his hands in an attempt to try and calm Aiden down. "Shhhh, shhhh, I know, Aiden. I know. Just try to stay calm, okay?"

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do! You're gonna walk out that door in a minute and feel the sunshine on your face and see the clouds in the sky...you're gonna be able to come and go as you please...but I can't! I'm stuck in here till I turn 18! That's six fucking months from now!!"

Drew remained silent as he knew anything he said now would simply enrage Aiden even more.

"Do you have any idea how bad it is in here?" Aiden continued on, his fists balled up with rage. "Lenny's apartment was NOTHING compared to this. Yeah, sure, maybe we didn't have heat or much food, and maybe we had mice and roaches, but at least I didn't have to worry about getting stabbed or raped there! But in here...there are kids in here that have shot people dead, Drew! Do you know that?! They've stabbed people and slashed throats without blinking an eye. Some of them are gang members waiting to be sentenced for murder! Murder, Drew! How the fuck am I in a better place than before?!"

Aiden stood up and leaned over the table to get in Drew's face. "TELL ME!! TELL ME HOW I'M BETTER OFF NOW, YOU FUCKING LIAR!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he slammed his fists down hard on the table.

Aiden's cheeks were red with rage and the officer that had been observing in the corner of the room now began to walk toward their table to intervene.

"Please calm down, Aiden...you're gonna make things so much worse for yourself," Drew tried to explain as he eyed the corrections officer approaching, but Aiden was beyond calming down at this point.

"You're a liar and you used me! You're just another fucking cop with a big ego who doesn't care who you hurt!" Aiden then took his hand and pushed his hair back to show Drew his forehead. "You see this scar?! I'm gonna have it forever! FOR-FUCKING-EVER! And that's your fault too!"

Drew's eyes stared uncomfortably at the red scar that was deep enough that he knew it would remain with Aiden for the rest of his life.

"I take it back what I said to you that night before they raided The Cage. I don't love you at all - I HATE YOU!!!" Aiden hollered.

The officer had now made his way to their table and had taken Aiden's elbow. "Okay, son, I think this visit is over." He began to guide him back toward the metal door where they had come in, with Aiden angrily resisting him every step of the way and attempting to jerk his arm away.

 _'Don't resist him, Aiden, please don't!'_ Drew pleaded silently inside his head, knowing that things would only get worse if he did.

The officer radioed for backup as Aiden continued to be combative and another guard quickly came in to assist in removing him from the visiting room. They each grabbed Aiden under the arm and were practically dragging him kicking and screaming from the room.

"I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!! I FUCKING HATE YOU!!" he continued to scream while being dragged out of the visiting room.

The heavy metal door slammed closed behind them and the screaming was silenced. Drew sat for a moment quite stunned as he felt the eyes of the other people in the visiting room staring at him after witnessing Aiden's tirade. The visit clearly had not gone at all as he had hoped.

Drew rose and exited the visiting room, with Aiden's screams of "I hate you!" echoing in his head.


	18. The Cardboard Box

Drew threw himself into his work over the next two weeks. It helped to keep his mind occupied, at least during the daytime. It was nighttime that he found especially difficult. Every night after he laid down, memories of Aiden would flood his brain like a dam that had burst open.

Drew spent most evenings wide awake in bed, restless, and rethinking every mistake he made along the way. Flashbacks from the first night he had met Aiden would then overtake his mind. He could still see Aiden in that cage when he first walked into the club; he could still see his smile and hear his voice. Every conversation they had had...the sound of Aiden's laugh...his mannerisms...his confession of love...every memory seemed to haunt Drew uncontrollably. Eventually in the wee hours of the morning Drew would finally fall asleep, only to awaken the following morning drained and exhausted. But he knew his lack of sleep was a just punishment. Aiden surely wasn't getting much sleep either where he was; probably too frightened and angry to relax enough.

Drew had made the decision not to attempt to visit Aiden anymore, but he had pulled a few strings and got him moved to a different section of the building so he could be housed with a few of the other underage dancers. Every Friday he put money into Aiden's debit account at the facility, just in case he wanted to purchase drinks or snacks. And every few days he made sure to call the social worker in charge of Aiden's case and touch base with her. From all accounts, Aiden was doing as well as could be expected. He had had no further behavioral outbursts since the one in the visiting room, and he had been enrolled in the detention center's GED program and was getting good grades. Health wise, he had been getting proper medical care, including a complete physical examination which included blood and lab work. The doctor at the facility found that all of his injuries were recovering nicely and had given Aiden a clean bill of health. All of that was good news, of course, but it was a small amount of comfort for Drew. He wanted to do so much more for Aiden, but he simply couldn’t.

On Drew's schedule for today was a simple preliminary hearing at the courthouse. It would consist of a rather dull morning of legal formalities in which both the prosecution and defense would submit their evidence, disclose what witnesses each side would be calling to testify, and hopefully set the date for the trial.

As Drew took his seat behind the district attorney and the hearing got under way, he took notice of both Jimmy and Nick sitting in the very back of the courthouse, probably curious as to what was happening with the case as they were both involved. Drew averted his gaze quickly, quite certain that a smile or wave in their direction would have been unappreciated by either one.

A few long and tedious hours later, both sides had decided to convene for the day and Drew gathered up his belongings and left the courthouse. As he descended the stairs, he saw Jimmy about 50 feet ahead of him with a woman. Drew decided to give a small smile and nodded to him, and was quite surprised when Jimmy held up his finger to indicate that he wanted Drew to hold on. Jimmy said something to the woman with him and then began to walk toward Drew.

"Hi," Jimmy said as he approached, a small but nervous smile on his face.

"Hi," Drew smiled with relief, happy that Jimmy didn't seem angry. "I'm sorry the way things went down, Jimmy. I really am."

"Yeah, I know. You had to do what you had to do, I guess," Jimmy stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

Drew nodded. "Have you seen Aiden? Is he okay? I tried to visit him a couple of weeks ago but...well...let's just say it didn't go well."

Jimmy nodded his head. "Yeah, I've seen him a few times. I went to see him yesterday actually. Man, that place is such a shithole. But he's still really, really hurt. Aiden fell hard for you. He told me one night, when it was just me and him, that he was in love with you. He knew you probably didn't love him back, but he at least thought you _cared_ about him."

Drew winced at the words. "Oh Jimmy, you have no idea how much I care about him. I honestly do. Everything's just so complicated right now with this trial about to start and..."

Drew stopped abruptly before saying anything further. He suspected Jimmy probably knew that he and Aiden had had sex. It would make sense that Aiden would tell his best friend an important detail like that. But if that bit of information ever came out during the trial, it would be catastrophic for the case...as well as Drew's career. It was a delicate subject and Drew was careful to make sure the conversation on his and Aiden's intimate relationship went no further.

Drew glanced over at the woman who was patiently waiting for their discussion to be over. "I heard you have somebody to take you home. That's good news. I wish you the best Jimmy, I really do."

Jimmy smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I guess we'll see, right? At least I have some family to go home with, even if I don't know them very well. That's my aunt over there. I think the last time I saw her I was 4 years old. So who knows? But it's more than Aiden has right now, so I guess I'm lucky."

The two said goodbye and Drew continued on to the parking lot. As he arrived at his car and began to open the door, he heard his name called. Turning around, he saw Nick stepping out of the car parked right beside him. For a moment, Drew wasn't sure if Nick simply wanted to talk or was going to take a swing at him.

But the calm look on Nick's face quickly put Drew at ease. As Nick walked around the old, beat up car he had been sitting in, he chuckled a little and said, "What do you think of my new wheels?"

Drew took a look at the rusty old car, the rear bumper being held up with rope and more dents and scratches on it than he could count. He grinned and replied, "Sweet! She's a beauty, Nick!"

Laughing out loud, Nick replied, "She's a piece of shit, I know. But she'll get me home, and that's all I really need right now."

"Home?"

"Yeah, I'm heading back home to my parents' house," Nick stated with a nervous smile. "I've had a lot of time on my hands lately to think about things and how I've been living my life. I made some stupid mistakes when I was younger, and so did my parents. But I think it's time I go home and work it out with them. They're the only parents I got and they're willing to sit down and talk to me. And I really want to get my life back on track. I don't want to live like this forever."

Drew smiled at the maturity with which Nick was handling the entire situation, which had turned his life upside-down as much as any of the other boys. "That sounds like a really good idea. Good luck to you, Nick. I mean that." He reached out and gave Nick's shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "You're a good guy and you did everything you could to protect those boys."

Not knowing how to take a compliment, as he rarely received one, Nick awkwardly looked away.

"Oh! I almost forgot. I have something for you," Nick stated as he walked to the rear of his car and opened up the back door. He pulled out a cardboard box and gave it to Drew.

"I cleaned out the apartment before I left and this is Aiden's. I tried to give it to him when I visited, but they won't let him have it in the detention center. I didn't want to throw it away, so I was just gonna hold onto it. But since you're here, maybe you can take it for him?"

"Sure," Drew replied and took the small box that contained all of Aiden's worldly possessions. "I'll make sure he gets it whenever he's released."

"Thanks. Well, I guess I should get going. I got a bit of a drive ahead of me. I'll see you when the trial starts, I guess. Looks like I'm going to be testifying," he stated reluctantly, obviously not looking forward to it.

"Yeah, me too. I'll see you at the trial then." Drew then extended his hand, to which Nick accepted and shook it firmly.

Drew watched Nick pull away in his jalopy, the muffler loud and dark smoke coming from the tailpipe. He silently wished him Godspeed and hoped the car made it to his parents' home in one piece.

Drew then entered his own car and placed the cardboard box on the passenger seat. He went to start his car, but then paused and took his hand off the ignition key. He looked over at the box of items and placed his hand inside to see what remained inside. There were a few T-shirts, the pajama bottoms that Drew had given him, a hairbrush, a book, and some other small odds and ends. He smiled slightly as he recalled the first time Aiden had proudly shown him this very box - the night he saw where the boys lived and then had their first "date."

As he shoved his hand down a little deeper, he came upon the light blue blanket with the snowmen pattern that he had also given Aiden. His fingers then touched a small photo album. He removed it from the box and decided to open it.

Drew smiled to himself as he looked at the first few photos. They were baby pictures, and there was no doubt in Drew's mind that they were of Aiden. The baby in the photo had the same blond hair and large blue eyes. There were a few elementary school photos of him and one of a pretty woman who he assumed was Aiden's mother as she resembled him. The last photo showed Aiden looking to be about 14 or so, hugging an older woman who was smiling and had a kind face; probably his grandmother. The remainder of the pages seemed to be empty, but as Drew placed the album back into the box, he noticed one photo sticking up and out of place, having been tucked inside the back cover.

As he pulled the misplaced photo out, a small gasp escaped his lips. The picture was of Drew himself, sitting in front of the fireplace at his parents' home last Christmas. For a moment, he was confused how Aiden had possession of it. He then remembered how Aiden had spent the last day at his townhouse looking through his photo album to pass the time. He must have secretly taken the picture without Drew seeing and hidden it so he could keep it for himself.

Drew's breath hitched and he felt his eyes sting at the very thought of it. This was truly the last straw for him. His emotions had been raw these past few weeks and the thought of Aiden stealing a photo of him to hold onto whatever connection he thought existed broke his heart.

Drew had always prided himself on being emotionally strong and holding it together when things got tough, but the scales had been tipped too far now. He bowed his head and covered his eyes with both hands. The parking lot was busy and the last thing he wanted was for anybody to notice that he was crying.


	19. The Trial

_~Four months later~_

Drew adjusted his tie before stepping into the courtroom. Today was Day 1 of Lenny's trial and he planned to be there for every second of it, no matter how many days or weeks it took. Aiden was on the list of witnesses to testify today and he was anxious to see how he looked after almost four months. Drew had continued to keep his distance, deciding that any further attempt to visit the juvenile detention facility would be a bad idea. His bi-weekly chats with the social worker to check on Aiden's well-being had had to suffice.

Drew took a seat beside his partner Mike in the courtroom. They both would be called as witnesses at some point during the trial, but today the focus was to be on Lenny's young employees to set the stage of the case. As the morning wore on, boy after boy from The Cage came in and testified. Nick and Jimmy both had their turn on the witness stand, each doing an excellent job of helping to nail Lenny's coffin closed. As the day wore on it seemed that they might not get to Aiden today after all. But at about 3:45 in the afternoon, the prosecutor called for Aiden to be brought into the courtroom and placed on the witness stand.

Through a side door, Aiden was escorted in by an officer of the court, still wearing an orange jumpsuit. Drew leaned over to Mike and whispered, "Why is he in that jumpsuit? The other boys still in juvie were wearing street clothes when they testified."

"They must've had somebody bring them in," Mike replied in a hushed voice. "If a kid has nobody to bring them any clothes, then they testify in their jumpsuit. That's just the way it is."

Drew watched as the officer directed Aiden to the witness stand. It broke his heart to see him in the orange jumper. Had he known, he would have brought Aiden a dress shirt and pants to wear so he would feel more comfortable, or at the very least been able to blend in more.

As Aiden was sworn in and vowed to tell the truth, Drew noticed how pale and thin he was. Aiden was slender by nature, but he looked even leaner than before, if that was even possible. He watched as Aiden fidgeted in the witness chair and nervously looked around the courtroom, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Lenny was seated at a table with his attorney just a few feet away from Aiden, and Drew could tell it was unsettling for him. He began to wonder if Aiden would be able to answer honestly with Lenny so close to him. What if Aiden feared that telling the truth would lead to him being beaten up again? And on the other hand, what if Aiden told the _entire_ truth and disclosed all the details about his and Drew's relationship?

Drew had spent a great deal of time trying to decide what action he would take if he and Aiden's sexual relationship became known. He could outright deny it, of course. It was Aiden's word against his, and there was no solid proof that anything had happened between them. But the more Drew had thought about openly denying it should the details come out during trial, he had decided against it. He knew that would be the ultimate betrayal to Aiden and he had already put him through enough as it was. So, Drew had decided to simply accept the punishment, whatever that might be, if it came out during the trial. It would mean his job of course, and maybe even a mistrial for Lenny, but to publicly call Aiden a liar was something he could not, and _would_ not do.

As Aiden continued to look around the courtroom nervously, his eyes eventually fell on Drew seated in the audience. The look on his face was scared and hurt, but no longer angry. Drew smiled at him to offer him some comfort, but Aiden quickly looked away.

As the prosecutor began his questions, Aiden seemed to answer them all truthfully. However, Drew knew that questions would be asked that involved their relationship and how they met. As far as the police chief knew, Drew's supposed "interest" in Aiden was purely for information and all an act. The chief had no idea that it had turned out to be much more than that and Drew was on the edge of his seat, not knowing how much information Aiden was going to divulge. However, knowing the entire situation was out of his hands at this point, Drew chose to let the chips fall where they may. Whatever was going to happen was beyond his control at this point.

A back and forth between the prosecutor and Aiden then began:

_**"How old are you, Aiden?"**_

**_" 17."_ **

**_"How long had you been working at The Cage at the time it was shut down?"_ **

**_"Um...about four or five months."_ **

**_"And how old were you when you first started working there?"_ **

**_"16."_ **

**_"Could you tell me what your job at The Cage was?"_ **

**_"Um...well...I was a dancer. But sometimes I'd serve drinks."_ **

**_"Did you do anything else? Other than dance or serve drinks?"_ **

**_"Um....back room stuff. A little bit...just once in a while."_ **

**_"Aiden, could you explain to the court what 'back room stuff' means?"_ **

Aiden shook his head in the negative, silently telling the lawyer that he did not want to elaborate. He was desperately trying not to look at Lenny, who was staring him down hard. After being instructed by the judge that he was under oath to tell the truth, the prosecutor asked his question a second time.

_**"Please Aiden, just tell us in a few words what you meant by 'back room stuff'."**_

**_"Just, you know. Blow jobs and stuff. Whatever the customer wanted."_ **

**_"And would a customer have to pay for the use of a back room?"_ **

**_"Uh-huh. Forty dollars."_ **

**_"Okay. Now Aiden, I'm going to show you something. Could you please tell me if you know what this is?"_ **

Drew held his breath as the prosecutor handed Aiden the paper receipt that Lenny had given him many months before. He recalled the moment vividly, with Lenny hastily scrawling it out and signing it with just a large L.

_**"Uh huh. It's a receipt. For me."**_

**_"A receipt for you? Can you explain that to me a bit more?"_ **

Drew shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He and Aiden hadn't had sex that particular night the receipt had been written; the sex hadn't come until later on, but they had definitely kissed and touched on the couch that night. If those details were to come out now, Lenny's defense attorney would undoubtedly call for a mistrial due to police coercion or any other number of violations. Everything he and Mike had worked so long and hard on could go down in flames due to his attraction to Aiden. Drew moved to the edge of his seat again as Aiden began his answer.

_**"Well, when a customer wanted to take one of us home for the whole night, they had to rent us. And that's a receipt from when I got rented."**_

**_"Do you remember the man who rented you that evening?"_ **

**_"Uh-huh."_ **

**_"Could you identify him if he's in the courtroom today, son?"_ **

Aiden pointed to Drew.

_**"Please let the records reflect that the witness has identified Officer Andrew Cooper, who was acting as an undercover agent for the Springfield Police Department that night. Now Aiden, could you please tell me what happened that night?"**_

Drew's palms began to sweat and he felt his heart begin to race at not knowing what Aiden would say.

_" **Well, he took me to his place. He let me have a hot shower. He gave me clean clothes to wear. And he fed me. He was nice to me. Then he..."**_

As Aiden paused for a moment, Drew could feel his heart pounding so loudly he was sure the judge himself could hear it.

_**"...um...then he told me to get some sleep. The next day he fed me again and he tried really hard to get me to go to some shelter place so I wouldn't have to go back to The Cage, but I didn't want to. So he drove me back home instead."**_

Drew heaved a sigh of relief at Aiden purposely skipping over the mutual foreplay they had engaged in on the couch.

_**"So Officer Cooper attempted to get you some help, but at the time you refused, is that correct?"**_

**_"Yeah. Cuz I was afraid."_ **

**_"Afraid of what?"_ **

Aiden looked over at Lenny who was glaring angrily at him. Aiden shrugged his shoulders and looked down, seemingly too intimidated to answer any further with his former boss just mere feet away from him and visibly angered at his testimony.

_**"Aiden? You've taken an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We need to know why you were afraid to not return home."**_

**_"Um...get...getting hit. I would've gotten hit. If I didn't go back, Lenny would've sent somebody out to find me. And then I'd have ended up getting punished...and the other boys would probably have gotten punished too. That's just the way things were."_ **

**_"So, are you telling me that Lenny would hit you and the other employees to keep you in line?"_ **

**_"Uh huh."_ **

"He's a fucking little liar! I never hit any of 'em!" Lenny burst out from the defense table, unable to contain his rage any longer. "And anybody could've written up that there phony receipt! It doesn't even have my full name on it!"

The judge banged his gavel down several times as he demanded order in the court and instructed Lenny's lawyer to get his client under control.

"If I may, Your Honor," the prosecutor stated, "I would like to ask the defendant how he knows the receipt doesn't have his full name on it? Because I haven't even shown it to him yet!"

Lenny's jaw dropped as he realized the blunder he made by blurting out. Drew noticed Lenny's lawyer quickly lean in and whisper in his ear, probably something to the effect of keeping his dam mouth shut from hereon in.

After Lenny's outburst, Drew could see that Aiden was getting more stressed at the questions and Lenny's never-ending stare down. His heart went out to Aiden. He just wanted to stop the world from spinning for a moment, go up to Aiden, hold him and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

After several more questions, the prosecutor then asked that the court turn their attention to their next item of evidence, which was to be a video projected on a large flat screen monitor. As the video began to play, it was obviously a black and white surveillance tape that was a bit grainy, but it was clearly showing the alleyway outside of The Cage. About 20 seconds in, one could see the back door to The Cage open and Aiden was then seen stepping out. Three seconds later a much larger figure exited the door and could be seen striking Aiden on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground.

A collective gasp could be heard from the audience members as they watched the violent video unfold before their eyes.

Drew strained to make out the other person in the video. It definitely wasn't Lenny. This person was much larger, but because the lighting in the alley was poor, it was difficult to see. As the video carried on, it showed Aiden being repeatedly kicked in the stomach and the head. He had curled himself up in the fetal position on the ground, his knees pulled in trying to protect his stomach, and his arms trying to shield his face and head. As the assault carried on, Aiden's body visibly went limp, no longer trying to protect himself. Drew felt his stomach sink as he witnessed Aiden apparently lose consciousness as the brutal attack continued on screen.

When the large, looming figure on screen seemed to be finished, he initially walked away and out of the camera shot. He then suddenly stepped back into view, holding something above his head. It could have been a bat or piece of metal - it was too grainy to make out, but the congregation moaned simultaneously as they saw the large man swing down hard and strike Aiden in the head. Then, right before he turned around to walk away and out of frame, the man looked up - just enough that the camera was able to capture his face. There was no doubt in Drew's mind that it was the bouncer with the steel toed boots who manned the hallway to the private rooms.

 _'Yes!'_ Drew cheered silently in his own mind as he recognized the perpetrator. He wanted that bastard to pay for every scar and every ounce of pain he inflicted on Aiden. It may have been Lenny who ordered it, but the bouncer was just as guilty for carrying it out.

The prosecutor then turned his attention back to Aiden on the witness stand, who was visibly shaken and upset at having seen the video of the attack for the first time. Up until now, Aiden had no idea who assaulted him.

**_"Aiden? I'm sure that was difficult to watch, but could you identify the man in that video?"_**

Drew noticed Aiden's hand trembling slightly as he used it to push back some of his blond hair from his eyes before replying.

**_"That was Charlie. He's one of Lenny's bouncers and security guys."_**

**_"Thank you Aiden. I have no further questions for you right now."_ **

With that, Lenny's attorney took only a few minutes to cross-examine Aiden. The questions were vague and it seemed like the defense attorney was simply grasping at straws. He tried to get Aiden to admit that the video was of poor quality and perhaps it had been a customer with the same build as Charlie who had actually attacked him, but Aiden never budged or backed down.

When the defense attorney had no further questions, Aiden was lead down from the witness stand by an officer to be returned to the juvenile detention facility. Drew kept his eyes fixed on him the whole time as he passed in front of him, the officer maintaining a firm grip on Aiden's left arm the entire time As they paused at the door leading out, Aiden looked over his shoulder at Drew. His were large and sad, but the anger and rage was gone. All that was left was the hurt.


	20. Un-Happy Birthday

_~Two months later~_

Aiden stepped through the tall metal gates and out into the fresh air for the first time in six months. He closed his eyes and took a moment to enjoy the feeling of sunshine on his face, but the pleasure was short-lived.

Today was his birthday, but there was very little to celebrate. Standing on the curb outside of the detention facility, now officially 18 and legally an adult, he may have gained his freedom, but he had nowhere to go. He stuck his hand deep inside his jeans pocket to make sure his money was still there.

He looked left and right down the busy street; a street he had been on countless times in his life, but he now needed a moment to reorient himself which direction would lead to downtown. It was a strange feeling being outside after having been locked away for six months and he discovered he needed to regain his bearings. Once he had decided on the correct direction, he began walking. He had nowhere specific to go, but with the money in his pocket he knew he could manage at least a few nights in a cheap motel. Beyond that, he had yet to figure out what he was going to do.

As he walked along, Aiden began to notice the cracks in the sidewalk, the color of the cement curbs, the sound of the cars whizzing past him, the odor from the exhaust pipe of an old truck - things he really never gave a second thought to before. But after being away for so long, every sight, sound and smell seemed new again.

After about 45 minutes, Aiden came upon a cheap motel that was pretty well-known in this part of the city, but not in a good way. The rooms were most commonly rented out by the hour, but he knew he could get one for a few nights as well.

Upon checking in, paying for the room in cash and obtaining the key to Room #7, he entered the tiny motel room. It smelled musty and a bit like smoke. No matter though, Aiden thought. It was still a step up from his accommodations back at juvie. He turned the television on for some company, tossed a plastic bag he had been carrying onto the bed, and then removed the money from his pocket, laying it out on the bureau. He uncrumpled the bills and counted them out again to be sure how much he had left; just a little over $100.

When he left juvie earlier that morning, the clerk releasing him informed him he had a balance on his debit account and that he was entitled to take the money with him. It was a welcome surprise to Aiden, as he hadn't been expecting it. He had already assumed it was Drew putting money into his account each week. Probably to ease his conscience and make himself feel better, Aiden presumed - as if a bag of chips and a soda could make up for what Drew had put him through. Still, Aiden had been quick to share his debit account with the two other dancers housed in juvie with him - at least until both of them turned 18 and left over two months ago. But until that point, Aiden's always loaded debit account was the highlight of their day. It was strange how something as trivial as a bag of M&Ms or Doritos could brighten up their dull and lonely day just a bit; but somehow it did.

Aiden stood at the bureau and scowled at the money, not liking the fact that Drew had likely funded it. He wondered what Drew was doing at this very moment. Probably still riding the wave of adoration and praise from everyone at the police precinct that surely came after the trial. Or maybe Drew was just moving onto his next assignment... probably using somebody else and playing with their emotions to get what he wanted from them.

He assumed Drew had forgotten all about him at this point. After all, other than that one miserable attempt at visiting him and attempting to offer that lame apology six months ago, he hadn't heard from Drew at all. The only word he ever got on Drew was during one of Jimmy's weekly visits to the detention center. It was then he had told Aiden how he ran into Drew outside the courthouse one day, but that he didn't seem to have a lot to say.

Aiden snorted angrily to himself at the recollection of Jimmy's story. Of course Drew didn't have a lot to say - because why would he? He was just an asshole cop who used him. Drew had never cared one shit for him, and Aiden was just too naïve and gullible to have known it at the time.

"How could I have ever been so stupid?" he asked himself out loud in his solitary motel room, continuing to stare at the money that, when it ran out, would essentially leave him homeless.

Attempting to shake the image of Drew completely from his head, he took several dollar bills and a five and slid them off to one side of the bureau. He would use that amount to get a small bit of food out of the vending machine for the next few days. The rest of it he would use to rent this motel room for as many nights as he could. Even though Aiden had never had a such a large amount of money to himself ever before, he knew it wasn't going to last him very long.

Aiden walked over to the bed and laid down on top of it, pushing the plastic bag he had brought with him off to the side. For the next few hours he did nothing but think. He was 18 now. And while most teens looked forward to that milestone, it was a double-edged sword for him. While it meant he no longer had to be housed at the facility, he now had to figure out how to support himself without anybody in his corner to help him.

For a while he considered the idea of just going back to The Cage to see if he could get his old job back. It was under new management now and had a new name, but it was still a gay dance club and bar - just not with all the illegal shit that Lenny was doing. Aiden knew those details because Jimmy had given him all the updates.

At first Aiden had been hoping that Jimmy would return to the club as well so they could stay together, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. Jimmy had been living with his aunt for the past six months. She had gotten him back into school and even helped him get a part-time job at a supermarket. Jimmy was traveling down a different path now it seemed - a better path. Aiden was happy for him, of course, but it stung a bit to know that all his friends had scattered and most were moving on with their lives. All of them, it seemed, except Aiden.

Aiden reached over and opened up the plastic bag beside him. Inside were just a few things he had left the facility with - a toothbrush and some toothpaste, a comb, and a few pamphlets on the local food pantry and men's shelter to "get him started", or so the discharge clerk told him. Also inside were the clothes that Aiden had worn the night he was taken into custody six long months ago - a pair of small black booty shorts and a sheer half-shirt. If he decided to go back to the club, he would probably need them.

The protocol upon discharge at juvie was for the teens to change back into whatever clothing they arrived in, but given that Aiden's ensemble was bordering on obscene and worthy of getting him attacked, or at the very least arrested, the clerk had tossed him some used clothing that had been donated to put on instead. The shirt he was wearing was too big and the jeans were too short, but for now it was all he had.

As he pulled out the tiny shorts and half-shirt to look at, it seemed so very long ago that he had last worn it. Yet, on the other hand, he remembered every detail of that night as if it had just happened yesterday. He remembered how he had spent that day at Drew's townhouse, as well as shared his bed. He recalled the disappointment he felt when, after having sex, Drew called for a cab to return to the club. He remembered returning to the club and dancing in the cage that night, with Jimmy on his left and Nick a few cages down on the right...he remembered how busy and loud it was...he remembered his conversation with Jimmy when he told him that he loved Drew...he remembered Lenny yelling at them and...

And the raid. He remembered the raid.

Aiden took a deep breath to calm himself as his mind raced through the events of that night six months ago, but he most definitely remembered that part with vivid detail. The rest of the night was somewhat of a blur with being shoved into the back of a police car, finger printed, drug tested, photographed, questioned and officially processed through the detention facility. But up until that moment, each detail was as clear as day to him. The memory of seeing Drew standing there in his dress suit, holding a gun and badge felt like a sledgehammer to his heart all over again. Aiden had been hurt many times in the course of his young life, but none had been as painful as that moment.

As Aiden looked at the shorts and shirt in his hand, he came to the decision that he would no longer be needing them. Returning to The Cage, or whatever they were calling it now, wasn't going to work. It was the last place he wanted to be because there were too many bad memories. His physical scars had healed, but he needed his emotional scars to heal as well, and returning there would only reopen them.

So, no. Going back there was not going to be an option.

With Plan A of returning to the dance club off the table, Aiden really had no Plan B as a backup. He had gotten his GED at juvie, which would help in his employment search, but he had no real job experience other than at The Cage. Serving drinks might be a skill he could put on a job application, but he knew blow jobs probably wouldn't get him any call backs.

As he continued to think about his next move, a loud thumping on the wall behind him broke his thought pattern. The sound of the bed from the room next door could be heard banging up against the wall, and he could hear a woman moaning and shouting out obscenities. It was most likely a prostitute up to her nightly work given the section of the city he was in; not to mention that this motel routinely charged by the hour. He grabbed the TV remote and turned the volume up a bit higher to drown out her overacting.

As the night wore on and Aiden continued to try and weigh his options, which were few, he eventually drifted off to sleep. He woke up several hours later, startled by a police siren outside his window. He could see flashing red and blue lights coming into his now completely dark room, aside from the flicker of the TV he had accidentally left on. The digital clock on the nightstand read 2:37 a.m. He stepped over to the window and drew the curtain just enough to see that some sort of fight had broken out in the motel parking lot. One man appeared to be bleeding and another was getting arrested. Probably a drug deal gone wrong. They happened nightly outside Lenny's apartment and these scenes were nothing new to Aiden.

Aiden returned to the bed and sat down. He was tired, stressed, sad, scared, and hungry. The banging from the next room and the woman faking her orgasm began again - or maybe it was a completely different woman this time, Aiden wasn't sure. He picked up the digital clock and slammed it against the wall and screamed, "Shut the fuck up!!!"

He grabbed the plastic bag with his dancing clothes still inside and threw them as hard as he could in the direction of the trash basket, though missing it by a few inches. He was done with this kind of life, this city, and everybody in it.

As he sat on the edge of the bed, he hung his head in his hands feeling completely defeated. There was simply nothing left for him here and he needed to leave. Somehow, someway, he needed to get as far away from this city as he possibly could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter coming.


	21. Uncaged

Drew threw some books, towels and bed sheets into a box and sealed it tight with packing tape. He then stacked the box in a corner with several others that he had filled. It was amazing how much stuff one could accumulate in an apartment after just a few short years. He stood back to survey how much left of his townhouse he still needed to pack before his move back home next week.

Needing a break from his packing, he plopped himself onto the couch, rested his head backwards and closed his eyes for a moment. The last year had been a tumultuous one. Between the breakup with his cheating ex, joining the police force, trying to finish college, taking on the case against and Lenny, and of course getting emotionally involved with Aiden, he had had quite a year.

The trial had completed itself in two weeks. Drew and Mike both offered their testimony in the final days and Lenny had been convicted and given a sentence of 5 to 10 years when all his charges were accrued. Charlie the bouncer had been given 12 to 18 months for the brutal assault on Aiden. It hardly seemed harsh enough given he had almost killed him, but those were the sentences that were handed down and Drew was grateful for it.

Drew knew Aiden had turned 18 last week and had assumed he went back to work at the club. Aiden had nowhere else to go, so that would make perfect sense. The club was now under different ownership, but it was still a gay dance club. The new owners had changed the name to "The Grind" and were following the rules and laws set forth by the city. The private rooms in the back had been dismantled and renovated to accommodate more tables and chairs for customers. Lenny's old apartment building had been condemned and torn down, with the plan of building a new one in the near future.

So for what it was worth, there was definitely some good that came out of it all. But on a personal level, Drew knew things had gone so wrong. Even though he had played a big part in helping win the case against Lenny, he felt emotionally defeated. There was an empty hole inside of him that he couldn't fully get rid of, no matter how much he threw himself into his work and tried to occupy his mind. He had never fully apologized to Aiden, although not for lack of trying, and that ate away at him. Things were left unsaid and unresolved between he and Aiden and that was his biggest regret.

As Drew sighed and stood up from the couch to continue his packing, his eyes fell upon Aiden's cardboard box of personal belongings on his coffee table. He made a mental note to himself to call The Grind later to see if Aiden was there. If so, he would take the box to the post office and have it shipped to the club. As much as Drew wanted to hand deliver it and see Aiden again, he knew that probably wouldn't go well given the last time he was face-to-face with him. He also couldn't bear being told how much he was hated again. He had fucked everything up so badly he was sure nothing he said or did would ever make a difference to Aiden at this point.

As Drew returned to his task of packing, a knock on his door interrupted him. He opened it and was completely stunned for a brief second before his face lit up at the sight of who was standing there.

"Oh my God, Aiden! Come in - come in! How are you?" Drew wanted to grab him and pull him in for a tight hug, but he knew he had lost that privilege six months ago. He noticed Aiden's hair had grown a bit longer and he was tired and pale looking, probably from the lack of sun for so long. He was also far too thin and frail looking, but aside from that he was still as handsome as ever.

Aiden stepped inside and shrugged, making sure to avoid eye contact. His face was solemn and it was obvious he wasn't here for a social call. "I'm okay. I actually didn't want to come here at all but...but you're the only one I could think of who might be able to help me."

"Of course I'll help you - what do you need? Just name it!" Drew gushed. Aiden could have asked him for his right arm and Drew would have gladly given it.

"Well, I wanted to know if I could borrow some money. I'm gonna take a bus and get the hell out of here. I don't know where I'm gonna go, but anyplace is better than here. All my friends are scattered and getting on with their lives and I...I just want to get away from here - start fresh somewhere else."

Drew nodded and let him continue, knowing it would be best to let him say everything he wanted to before trying to interject.

"They let me out of juvie last week - the day I turned 18. Some birthday present, huh?" Aiden stated sarcastically. "Anyways, when they discharged me I guess there was some money left on my debit account that they let me have. I'm guessing you put it there in the first place?"

"Yeah, that was me. I made sure to put some in every week for you," Drew stated softly.

"That's what I figured," Aiden replied. "Well, anyway, I had nowhere to go, so I used the money to stay in a dive motel the last couple of nights. And I actually ended up doing a lot of thinking there. You'd think being locked away for six months would've been enough time to think about all this stuff already, but I couldn't really do it in there. It was just too noisy...too chaotic...too..." he paused trying to find the right words to describe the horrible experience. "Well, you know," he said dismissively when he couldn't.

Drew swallowed and nodded. He didn't _really_ know; he could only imagine what life had been like for Aiden these past six months, but he was certain juvie was no place to have a clear head and do any serious thinking.

"So anyway, I only had enough money for a few nights at the motel, but what I decided is that I need to get far, far away from here. I just need enough money for a bus ticket, and maybe a little more to get by for a couple of weeks. Then I'll find a job and pay it all back to you - I promise," he finished with a touch of humiliation. Drew was truly the last person he wanted to ask for help, but beggars couldn't be choosers and he simply had nobody else.

Drew tried to process Aiden's decision, which sounded like a poor one. He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to think. Money wasn't an object - he could give Aiden as much as he needed. But Aiden venturing off all alone wasn't something he wanted to happen. However, trying to convince him not to go wouldn't be easy.

Drew realized he had to choose his words carefully. He knew the last thing Aiden wanted was to be told what to do, especially by him, but just wandering off somewhere unfamiliar and hoping for the best didn't sound like a good idea. But still, Drew understood why he didn't want to hang around this city any longer. After all, he was in the process of escaping it as well.

"Well, of course, Aiden. I can help you. And don't ever worry about paying me back...but where would you go? What would you do? I mean, have you really thought this through?"

Aiden shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter where I go. As far as the bus can take me - that's where I'm gonna go. Nobody cares what happens to me anyway."

"That's not true. I care. I care very much." Drew leaned to the side slightly to try to establish eye contact, but Aiden continued to look away and simply rolled his eyes at the comment.

"What's with all the boxes?" Aiden asked upon noticing the large stack in the corner.

"Oh, I'm moving back home next week."

"Why? Aren't you King Shit down at the police station now?" Aiden stated sarcastically. "Isn't everyone bowing down at your feet? 'All Hail Officer Cooper'?"

Drew ignored the jab, knowing he probably deserved it. "Well, I just think it's time for me to go home, that's all. I finished my Bachelor's Degree, and I got some great work experience here, but I think it's time I go. There's nothing here for me anymore." He inhaled and blew his breath out in a large puff, as if releasing six long months of inner conflict. "This city has gotten the best of me and I want be free of it. I guess there's just too many bad memories here."

Aiden nodded his head in agreement, but kept his eyes down to the floor. "Yeah, too many bad memories," he replied sadly.

"Well, on second thought, I guess they're not _all_ bad. Right? I mean...I did meet you," Drew stated softly in an attempt to extend an olive branch. But when Aiden refused to reply, he continued on. "Anyway, I have a support system at home that I really need right now...to be with people who love and care about me."

"I loved you," Aiden said in a hurt whisper, still staring down.

Drew looked at the young man standing before him, head down and broken. He wanted so desperately to take him in his arms, to hold him tight and tell him that from here on in everything would be okay...to tell him that he was sorry and that he would undue all the wrong. But he also knew he had lost Aiden's trust. Yet if Aiden walked out that door and hopped on a bus, he knew he would never see him again.

"I know you loved me, Aiden. I never doubted that."

"Yeah, well, guess I was just stupid."

"No, you weren't," Drew stated softly. "You were honest and kind and so much fun to be around. I don't think I've ever met anybody like you before and..." he paused as really needed Aiden to look at him. "Will you please look at me?"

Aiden scowled and refused to raise his eyes.

Drew took two steps toward Aiden. He reached out and placed both of his hands on Aiden's face, raising his face and forcing him to look at him. In doing so, he used both thumbs to gently stroke his cheeks. Aiden's breath hitched at the gesture, but he made no attempt to pull away.

"I need to tell you something, Aiden, and I need for you to look at me."

Aiden kept his eyes on Drew as asked, although it was a harsh glare.

"I think I loved you the second I first laid eyes on you, Aiden...that very first night I walked into the club. When I saw you in that cage...there was just something about you. I was drawn to you, wanted to talk to you and be near you. The whole time we were talking in that back room...I guess I can't really explain it, but I knew I wanted you right then and there. I wanted you so much, but at the time I couldn't have you. But I _do_ love you, Aiden. I've loved you the whole time - I just wasn't able to tell you until now."

"No! I don't believe you!" Aiden retorted with a sneer. "You're just saying that now because you feel bad!"

"That’s not true! I _do_ love you! I need for you to believe me - you _have_ to believe me!" he pleaded desperately.

Aiden shook his head in the negative. "I can't believe anything you say to me...ever again. Everything you say is a lie!"

Drew knew that his words were all but meaningless now. Aiden wasn't going to believe a thing he said as the trust was gone, but perhaps his actions could prove how he felt where words could not.

Acting on impulse, because he had absolutely nothing to lose anymore, he grabbed Aiden firmly about the waist, wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss. Quite surprised that Aiden didn't resist, or possibly even strike him, Drew then grabbed him even tighter. He pressed his lips against him hard while repeating the words "I'm so sorry," over and over.

Although guarded and cautious, Aiden allowed himself to be held and kissed. He held onto Drew tightly about the neck and breathed in the familiar smell of his clothes and cologne. It felt so good to be held by him again. After six months inside of the detention facility, he had begun to feel numb and dead inside, and for the first time in as many months he felt the first flicker of being alive again. And even though he no longer trusted Drew, he couldn't help but be caught up in the comfort of his arms.

Grabbing him by the hand, Drew quickly led him upstairs without saying a word. Mere words wouldn't be believed by Aiden anyway; he had to show him. Once in the bedroom, Drew pushed his body against Aiden's, forcing the younger to walk backwards until he could feel the bed behind his legs. Drew hastily pulled Aiden's T-shirt off and then made quick work of his jeans, leaving Aiden standing in front of him completely naked.

Aiden could see Drew's demeanor was different from the last time he was in this bedroom. Where Drew had been reserved, careful and slow the first time they had had sex, he seemed to be more frantic and forward this time. That was because Drew had nothing to hide or conceal this time. He had no secrets to keep and was free to be completely himself in the moment.

Drew wrapped one arm around Aiden's slim waist and placed his other hand on Aiden's left buttock, letting his fingers sink into the soft flesh. Aiden was meant to be his - he knew that. He had known it all along, but it wasn't until now that he had the opportunity to act upon it.

As Aiden stood fully naked in the arms of Drew who was still clothed, he began to feel conflicted. He relished the strong hold Drew had on him and was still hopelessly in love with him, but the trust was gone and he couldn't bear to be hurt again. One part of him wanted to tell Drew to stop, while the other never wanted this attention from the man he loved to end. While the conflict continued in his head, Aiden suddenly felt himself become airborne and landed on the mattress on his back.

Standing over him, Drew looked down to gauge Aiden's reaction at being physically pushed down onto the bed. Aiden remained lying on his back looking up at him with unsure eyes. Drew could only imagine what was going on in Aiden's head - probably some mixture of love and hate both at once. But Drew had one chance to physically show him how much he loved him and that chance was now or never.

When Aiden didn't show any indication of refusing his advances, Drew slowly removed his own shirt and pants, giving Aiden ample time to stare at his toned body. He then crawled onto the bed and covered Aiden's body with his own, this time feeling able to use all his weight to hold Aiden down.

Aiden closed his eyes as Drew attacked his neck with love bites and suction, knowing there would be many marks visible there by tomorrow. He felt the weight of Drew's body pushing him deeper into the mattress, and could feel Drew's erection rubbing against his. As the hurt inside began to lessen, he sensed himself slipping back under whatever spell Drew had had on him from day one. Each stroke of Drew's hand on a different area of bare skin caused a tingling sensation inside of Aiden. And no matter how upset and disappointed he had been with Drew, there was nobody else who could ever make him feel this way - _that_ he was certain of.

Drew reached for the drawer in the headboard where he kept his condoms, but then paused. "Have you been with anybody else since me?" he asked.

Aiden shook his head no. Drew had been the last person he had slept with.

"Neither have I," Drew stated as he smiled with satisfaction and took the lubricant instead. He placed some on his fingers, then reached down between Aiden's legs until he felt the special spot he wanted. He then took time to massage it, making tiny, gentle circles over it with his fingers. He kept a close eye on Aiden to read his body language. The last time he had seen Aiden he was enraged and screaming how much he hated him; but now, he had completely surrendered himself, which gave Drew some hope.

Aiden bit down hard on his lip and thrashed his head side to side as Drew continued to finger him. He tried to stifle a moan, not wanting Drew to know how much he wanted this, but it was becoming difficult to conceal his readiness.

Knowingly, Drew inserted his finger all the way in, forcing a low groan out of his partner. Aiden pulled hard on Drew's neck and bucked his hips in an attempt to make Drew hit the spot he wanted. Whatever Drew had done in the past had all been forgotten in the moment - all Aiden wanted now was to be pleasured by him.

Drew withdrew his finger, causing a soft whine from Aiden. Holding him by the face, Drew stared down hard into his eyes. "Yes? Or No?" he asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Yes!" Aiden gushed in a breathy and needy voice.

Wanting Drew inside him so badly that it almost hurt, Aiden tried to turn himself over and into a submissive position like the last time, but was stopped by Drew who pushed him back down on his back.

"No! I want to see your face this time," he stated in both a dominant, yet caring tone. "This time is different."

Aiden felt a charge run through his body at the forcefulness with which he spoke. Drew was placing himself in charge and in complete control - and for some unexplainable reason, Aiden loved that. And while under normal circumstances he would have _never_ allowed anybody to bareback him, that was the only thing he wanted in this moment.

Drew entered him slowly at first, knowing it had been a while since Aiden had been intimate with him, but once he felt himself fully sheathed the months of pent up frustration and denied feelings began to overtake him. His rhythm picked until he physically couldn't get any deeper inside of Aiden if his life depended on it; and yet somehow it felt like it did. If he didn't prove to Aiden how much he cared about him right now, at this very moment, he knew he would lose the opportunity forever.

Aiden had never felt anything this overwhelming or intense before. The one and only man he had ever loved was loving him back and giving him everything he had. He began to feel a warm wave rise within his body and knew he was on the cusp of coming. He opened his eyes to see that Drew was staring back at him with such intensity it felt like he was being put in a trance. Aiden could feel himself almost separating from his body, as if floating above the bed, and the only thing keeping him grounded was his tight hold around Drew's neck. It was then that he came, crying out so loudly in the process that Drew neighbor's no doubt overheard.

Coming just a few seconds after, Drew himself released everything he had deep inside his partner, feeling like he and Aiden were one in the same for at least a few moments. He had symbolically claimed Aiden as his own and prayed that his words would be heard now.

His body now relaxed and limp over his partner's body, Drew softly whispered "I love you," into Aiden's ear as he came down from his orgasm. "I love you so much."

Aiden let the words sink in. He had always dreamed of hearing them said, but had lost hope of it ever happening six months ago.

"And I'm so, SO sorry for everything," Drew continued. "I don't think you really know how unbelievably sorry I am."

Aiden nodded his head. "I know you are. I didn't believe you then, but I believe you now." It was written all over Drew's face how sorry he truly was and he no longer doubted him.

Drew then pulled out and rolled over to his side, pulling Aiden in close to him. "Aiden? I don't want you to get on that bus. Come home with me. Please?"

Aiden looked at him a bit confused, not sure if he had heard him correctly, so he waited for Drew to repeat himself.

"I want you to come home with me. I have a new job lined up there and a lease on a new condo. I know you'd like it there. Come with me."

"But...but I can't."

"Why?" Drew asked as he propped himself up on his elbows so he could look directly into Aiden's eyes. "Why not?"

"I just...I don't know...I..." Aiden stammered nervously, unsure of really why he couldn't.

"Look, I know I lost your trust, but give me a chance to earn it back. Give me two months, Aiden - just two months. If you still feel like you can't trust me, or that you don't love me anymore, then I'll take you to the nearest bus station myself and give you enough money to start fresh. But please...PLEASE give me the chance to show you how things can really be between us."

Drew took his finger and brushed a long piece of blond hair away from Aiden's eyes. "I lost you once, Aiden. I don't want to lose you again. I CAN'T lose you again. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you."

Still unsure, Aiden's eyes turned glassy as he pondered the offer. He wanted to believe every word Drew was saying, but he had built a strong fortress while in the juvenile detention center. He couldn't afford to be hurt again by Drew. But the alternate of walking away from him was just as painful - maybe even more so.

Needing more reassurance, Aiden began to look for reasons why it wouldn't work. "But...but I'm not the kind of person you can just bring home to meet your family. I'm not like Bryan. I'm...I'm just a dumb whore!"

Drew grabbed Aiden's face firmly. "Don't you EVER say that again! That's not true. You're so much better than Bryan ever was...or ever COULD be." It was clear how poor Aiden's self-esteem was.

"But I have nothing to offer you. I got no job or money. And I come with a whole shitload of baggage - baggage you don't need! I'm all fucked up in the head after being locked up for six months," Aiden replied, trying to give Drew every opportunity to rethink and retract his offer.

Drew again brushed the front of Aiden's hair back to expose the scar on his forehead and placed a kiss on it. He then looked into his eyes. "I'm five years older than you, Aiden. You're only 18 and you have your whole life ahead of you to figure out what you want to do - but I KNOW you're going to do great things! And while you're doing that, I'll be right there beside you, supporting you. I'll get you whatever help you need and we'll work through it all together. It won't be easy - we'll hit bumps I'm sure, but we'll deal with it together. I love you more than I've ever loved anybody, Aiden, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. No more secrets or lies - I promise you."

Drew leaned and gave him one more deep kiss before making his final plea. "Please, Aiden. I'm begging you - and I've never begged for anything in my life before. I've never wanted anyone more than I want you right now."

Aiden looked up at him with wide blue eyes as he took in everything Drew said. Slowly a small smile began to spread across his face. It had been a long and difficult journey, but he knew that every word Drew was saying was truthful this time. And he finally felt like he was exactly where he belonged.

"Okay," he nodded. "I'm not gonna get on that bus. I'm gonna go with you because...because I love you too!"

Drew gathered him in his arms held him tightly, sighing with relief that Aiden was giving him a second chance to make things right, and this time he knew he wasn't going to fuck it up.

Lying snug and secure in Drew's strong arms, for the first time in Aiden's life he felt completely free. No longer did metal bars define him, either physically or emotionally.

He was officially uncaged.

~Finis~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who were reading. Hope you enjoyed it!


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